Trump's 'Drill Reduction' Gesture Ignored? North Korea Reacts With Warning of 'War Threshold'

North Korea has reacted strongly to the South Korea-U.S. joint Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, stating, "The exercise of our self-defensive rights to thoroughly neutralize the enemies' military threats will be expressed in even clearer actions."

In a commentary released today (August 19), North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) stated, "It is necessary to respond to the increasingly evolving threatening actions of the adversaries with newly evolved strength."

KCNA added, "Adversaries that infringe upon and threaten the sovereign security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will constantly remain within the crosshairs of annihilating retaliatory means," and noted, "All aggressive war exercises by enemy states will never bring about the results desired by their perpetrators."

However, the agency made no specific mention of the recent "appeasement" gestures toward North Korea by U.S. President Trump, such as his directive to scale back South Korea-U.S. joint drills.

Instead, KCNA detailed the content, format, and scale of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, criticizing it by saying, "It is undergoing dangerous evolutions that are different and more perilous than ever before."

In particular, regarding the participation of the United Nations Command in the drills, it claimed, "This is a full-scale launch of reviving the combat functions of the UN Command and expanding its role," calling it "a development that cannot be overlooked."

The agency added, "Taking advantage of the exercises running wild for over ten days, the already tense situation on the Korean Peninsula is once again facing the 'threshold' of outbreak of war," and warned, "The dangerous expansion and intensification of the war exercises pose an even more severe threat to the security of our republic, which will inevitably lead to a further deterioration of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region."

(Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.