According to local media, North Korea has vowed to launch “unprecedentedly relentless and forceful counteractions” if South Korea and the United States conduct scheduled military drills in the coming weeks. North Korea’s foreign ministry issued the warning on Friday, ahead of the annual Freedom Shield joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, accusing Washington of inflaming tensions by conducting earlier drills that included US stealth fighters and a BI-B strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons. “If the US and South Korea follow out their already-announced plan for military drills… they would face unprecedentedly relentless and forceful counteractions,” the spokesman said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
According to Yonhap, the spokeswoman restated Pyongyang’s long-standing accusation that joint drills between Washington and Seoul were preparations for an invasion of North Korea. Describing the US-South Korean drills as “their hazardous effort to obtain a long-term military edge” over North Korea, the spokesman warned that the situation on the Korean Peninsula “would be again thrown into the terrible vortex of growing tension”. “If the United States’ option is to exhibit its might and counter everything with muscle, the DPRK’s option is the same,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea’s official name. North Korea’s announcement came less than two hours after South Korea announced a combined table-top exercise with the US next week aimed at perfecting Washington and Seoul’s unified reaction to North Korea’s potential use of nuclear weapons, Seoul officials said on Friday.
The computer simulation at the Pentagon is intended to focus on measures to counter North Korean nuclear threats and to discuss how to improve the US’s ability to use its full capabilities, including nuclear, to deter attacks on its allies, according to a statement from South Korea’s Defense Ministry. The spokeswoman also lambasted the UN Security Council on Friday for dedicating a session to North Korea in November and accused it of being a “tool for the US unlawful hostile policy towards the DPRK” The springtime Freedom Shield field training in South Korea is set to begin in mid-March and will last 11 days.
