WNAM MONITORING: North Korea on Monday denounced a five-day military exercise by the US, South Korea, and Japan, warning of consequences from what it called Washington’s increasingly provocative military activities on the Korean Peninsula.
The fourth iteration of the Freedom Edge exercise began with an opening ceremony at Yokota Air Base in Japan and will run through Friday, according to the US Pacific Command.
The drills are being conducted in international waters and airspace south of South Korea, as well as at military installations and command posts in Japan.
Freedom Edge focuses on interoperability across air, maritime and cyber domains, along with integrated air and missile defense.
South Korea has described the exercise as defensive and aimed at strengthening deterrence and response capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
North Korea, however, condemned the trilateral drills as a threat to itself and other countries in the region.
In a Defense Ministry statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea accused Washington of pursuing “military provocations” and vowed to take “response measures.”
North Korean Defense Minister Kim Song Ji issued “a note of warning against the reckless military moves of the US and its satellite countries to create a serious military confrontation and possibility of conflict on the Korean Peninsula” in the statement.
He also “solemnly” warned of “the consequences to be entailed by them,” according to KCNA.
The statements said there would be no change in Pyongyang’s policy of responding to US hostility with the “toughest stand to the last.”
The drills come weeks after US President Donald Trump said on Aug. 17 that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” separate planned bilateral military exercises between the US and South Korea, citing their cost and his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump said those exercises sent an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to Pyongyang.
