North Korea said it would take countermeasures against U.S.-led joint military exercises, including Freedom Edge, the regular multi-domain drills involving South Korea, the United States and Japan.
"If the United States and its allies attempt a new military confrontation with us, we too will take strong and reflexive countermeasures from a position of strength," North Korean Defense Minister Kim Song-gi said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on the 7th. It was the first statement since the North replaced its defense minister, changing from No Kwang-chol to Kim Song-gi on the 29th of last month.
The defense minister cited Freedom Edge, which South Korea, the United States and Japan began the previous day, and the Orient Shield exercise conducted by the United States, Japan and Australia starting on the 8th. The statement also pointed to the deployment of the U.S. military's advanced intermediate-range Typhon missile system for the drills and a push to station the U.S. Army's Multi-Domain Task Force in South Korea within the year. "The reality that U.S.-led war rehearsals are being staged one after another without any gap in time or space is a grave security threat that is driving instability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond the region to its limit," the statement said.
Kim stressed the North's intent to strengthen its military, saying the "most appropriate way to firmly control the growing risk of collision that is becoming a reality and to defend the state's sovereignty and security interests like an iron wall is the constant application of evolved new response capabilities." He also warned, "We sound the alarm over the reckless military moves of the United States and its followers and sternly warn of the consequences they will bring," adding, "If necessary, we will demonstrate our will and ability to counter the enemies' moves through stronger and more resolute action."
