North Korea has strongly denounced South Korea for its joint military drills with the United States while warning there would be dire consequences for Seoul for such actions.
A spokesman for North Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement on Monday that the large-scale joint South Korea-US military drills were provocative and aimed to increase uncertainty in the region.
“The drills included a plan for field maneuvers which doubled as against last year and even the armed forces of 11 satellite countries under the so-called “UN Command” without any justification for existence were mobilized,” the Ministry said in the press statement carried by the KCNA.
“The large-scale war drills staged by the world’s number one nuclear weapons state and more than 10 satellite states against a state in the Korean peninsula where a nuclear war may be ignited even with a spark, can never be called ‘defensive’,” the statement added.
It called the drills a “frantic” and “reckless” move while condemning it as a “military threat to a sovereign state and attempt for invading it”.
“The armed forces of the DPRK (North Korea) will continue to watch the adventurist acts of the enemies and conduct responsible military activities to strongly control the unstable security environment on the Korean peninsula,” it said.
It added that South Korea and the United States “will be made to pay a dear price for their false choice while suffering the consequent security uneasiness every moment at serious levels.”
The exercises, dubbed Freedom Shield, are being held from March 4 to March 14.
