North Korea has lashed out at intensified military exercises between the US and South Korea, characterizing them as “warmongers’ madness” and pledging to bolster its nuclear deterrence.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0
South Korea and the US are set to stage drills from May 25 to June 15 as they mark the 70th anniversary of their alliance.\u00a0The exercises are expected to involve advanced weapons systems, including F-35A stealth fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K2 tanks and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers.
North Korea on Friday accused the two countries of\u00a0ramping up “nuclear blackmail” and engaging in\u00a0a rehearsal for invasion, which merits “corresponding response”.\u00a0
“Their plot to crush us militarily is another clear indication that the enemy warmongers’ madness has reached a point where it cannot be overlooked,” state news agency\u00a0KCNA said.
“The frantic nuclear war fuss among US\u00a0and puppet warlike bellwethers is bound to trigger corresponding responses.”
US\u00a0and South Korean forces have been staging a\u00a0series of military exercises\u00a0since March, including air and sea drills involving a US\u00a0aircraft carrier\u00a0and heavy bombers.
Pyongyang will\u00a0continue to develop its weapons programs, KCNA said Friday, calling it a “legitimate right of a sovereign state to have more powerful means of self-defense” to fend off “serious situations and prospective threats”.
KCNA defended North Korea’s\u00a0weapons programs,\u00a0calling it a “legitimate right of a sovereign state\u00a0to have more powerful means of self-defense” to fend off
“serious situations and prospective threats”.
The drills, the news agency said, are a “serial and extension of the anti-DPRK war exercises”. DPRK stands\u00a0for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
The “dangerous war exercises”, it said, will take place “in an area only a few kilometers away from our front”.Last month,\u00a0South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol traveled to Washington for a six-day trip to celebrate his country\u2019s 70th year of bilateral relations with the United States with a request for extended nuclear protection.\u00a0
One of the main issues on the table was the US\u00a0commitment to providing \u201cextended deterrence,\u201d or the use of US\u00a0military assets, including nuclear weapons.\u00a0
The two sides issued the “Washington Declaration”, charting out measures that would strengthen their alliance.\u00a0
One key military aspect of the declaration is the US\u00a0promise to dispatch a nuclear ballistic missile\u00a0submarine\u00a0to South Korea for a visit at an undisclosed date, to purportedly deter North Korea and demonstrate Washington’s resolve to defend its ally.
It\u00a0triggered an outpouring of criticism that the deal resulted in Seoul giving more than it got \u2014 and that it could make South Korea’s neighborhood a more dangerous place.\u00a0
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