[Anchor]
Following U.S. President Trump's directive, the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises are wrapping up early today (the 21st). Addressing this situation last night, North Korean Workers' Party Department Director Kim Yo-jong mocked South Korea, claiming it has been placed in a pathetic position with no initiative of its own. Just like the day before, the message was timed to coincide with Washington's morning hours, appearing to signal that even if Pyongyang engages in dialogue with the United States, South Korea will be excluded.
For our first story, we turn to reporter Kim Ayeong.
[Reporter]
Following her statement the day before yesterday, North Korean Workers' Party Vice Director Kim Yo-jong released another midnight statement yesterday.
In her statement, Kim claimed that due to President Trump's order to scale back the exercises, Seoul has been placed in the pitiful situation of having to halt its favorite "war games," adding that South Korea's plight clearly illustrates the master-servant relationship of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
Kim also lashed out, asserting that this sudden development is a "disaster" and retribution brought on by the unrealistic security views of the South Korean authorities, who she claimed fell into blind faith in the United States in a bid to alter the geopolitical dynamics.
She also turned her fire on President Lee Jae-myung, calling him out by name.
Referring to President Lee's social media post expressing gratitude to President Trump regarding the scaling back of the exercises, she argued that South Korea is showing duplicitous behavior by simultaneously talking up self-reliant defense and securing independent military capabilities.
She went on to argue that such words and actions reveal South Korea's anxious, uneasy, and contradictory psychological state.
Kim's latest statement appears to elevate the level of vitriol against the South Korean government, which is interpreted as North Korea drawing a line to assert that Seoul has no room to intervene in President Trump's card of scaling down joint drills.
Meanwhile, North Korea fired a dozen short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea.
This marks the first ballistic missile launch in eight days, and analysts suggest it is intended as a show of force against the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises running through today.
(Video Editing: Choi Jin-hwa)
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