SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday denounced the latest annual joint military drills by South Korea and the United States, warning it will continue to strengthen its striking power to overwhelm any threats from its enemies.
The disarmament and peace institute at North Korea's foreign ministry issued the condemnation after Seoul and Washington wrapped up their 11-day annual Freedom Shield exercise Thursday.
Calling the exercise a "planned and provocative nuclear war rehearsal," North Korea said the aggressive and offensive nature of this year's drills was the highest in history, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"Having a formidable attack power that no one can stop and an overwhelming striking power is the surest guarantee to preventing war and effectively containing and controlling any threat and blackmail from aggressors," the institute said in a statement carried by the KCNA.
North Korea vowed to "consistently renew and strengthen its responses in all areas to overwhelm any military act by its enemies," it added.
North Korea has long denounced the allies' joint military drills as rehearsals for an invasion and uses them as a pretext for provocations. South Korea and the U.S. have said their exercises are defensive in nature.
The North released a barrage of statements denouncing the joint drills as a "dangerous provocative act" and fired several ballistic missiles, believed to be close-range ones, on the first day of the exercise. But it did not carry out major provocations, such as the firing of long-range ballistic missiles, this year.
Military helicopters prepare to take off at the U.S. Forces Korea's Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul, in this file photo taken March 10, 2025, as South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual springtime Freedom Shield exercise. (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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