[Anchor]

The South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), will wrap up early today (August 21), skipping the second-part counterattack drills. The allied joint field training has also been scaled back to half of its original plan. North Korean Workers' Party Vice Department Director Kim Yo-jong responded to the reduction of the joint drills by claiming that South Korea has been placed in a "pitiful plight."

Reporter Choi Jae-yeong has the details.


[Reporter]

The South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, UFS, will end early today.

Due to U.S. President Trump's directive to scale down the drills, the second-part counterattack exercises were omitted, significantly slashing the exercise period from 11 days to 5 days.

Out of the 14 joint field training sessions initially planned by South Korea and the United States, only 7, exactly half, will be conducted.

North Korean Workers' Party Vice Department Director Kim Yo-jong issued a midnight statement yesterday, following a similar statement the day before yesterday, regarding the reduction of the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises.

In her statement, Kim claimed that due to President Trump's order to scale down the drills, "Seoul has been reduced to a pitiful plight where it has to call off its favorite 'war games,'" arguing that South Korea's situation vividly illustrates the master-servant relationship of the alliance.

Kim also lashed out, calling this unexpected incident a "disaster" and a retribution brought about by the unrealistic security views of South Korean authorities who, blinded by blind faith in the United States, attempted to alter the power dynamics.

She also turned her fire toward President Lee Jae-myung, naming and criticizing him directly.

Referring to President Lee's social media post expressing respect to President Trump over the scaling back of the exercises, she argued that South Korea is displaying duplicitous words and actions, pointing out that the administration talks about self-reliant defense and securing independent military power on one hand.

She further claimed that such rhetoric and behavior expose South Korea's anxious, nervous, and contradictory psychological state.

Kim appears to have further ratcheted up the intensity of her criticism against the South Korean government in this statement, which is interpreted as North Korea drawing a hard line that South Korea has no room to intervene in President Trump's card of scaling down the joint exercises.

The government stated today that it urges the North not to distort South Korea's commitment to peace on the Korean Peninsula and to join the journey toward transitioning to a peace regime.

(Video by Chae Chul-ho)