South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise Freedom Shield is conducted on March 19 near Busan Harbor Bridge in Yeongdo District, Busan. [NEWS1]
North Korea denounced the recent South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise Freedom Shield, calling it a “deliberate and provocative nuclear war rehearsal.”
The North warned that true defense power lies in having strong offensive capabilities.
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According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, the statement was issued by the Institute for Disarmament and Peace under the North’s Foreign Ministry.
It claimed that “unstoppable offensive strength and overwhelming strike capability” are the most reliable guarantees for preventing war and deterring threats.
The institute described this year’s Freedom Shield as “effectively a trilateral military drill among the United States, Japan and South Korea” and a “multinational war exercise” involving armed forces from 12 member states of the United Nations Command.
It emphasized that “the absolute value of safeguarding sovereign rights and stability lies in preemptively neutralizing hostile military provocations and firmly dominating the regional situation through powerful deterrence.”
The statement also pledged that North Korea would “continue to strengthen all categories of powerful response capabilities to overwhelmingly suppress any military reckless moves that threaten our sovereignty and security.” It added that, as a “responsible nuclear weapons state,” the North would “reliably defend peace and stability in the region and the world.”
This year’s Freedom Shield exercise, held from March 10 to 20, included training scenarios based on recent assessments of North Korea’s evolving military tactics and strategic cooperation with Russia.
North Korea reacted sharply at the start of the drills, launching several short-range ballistic missiles. However, it later shifted to verbal criticism and refrained from further military provocations during the remainder of the exercise.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]