Pyongyang strongly criticised the Freedom Edge joint military drills held by South Korea, Japan and the US this month.
The three countries began the large-scale joint military drills on Thursday involving Navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the South’s ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong and Japan’s helicopter destroyer JS Ise. The Freedom Edge exercise aims to strengthen military co-operation amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The KCNA news agency said Pyongyang has always disapproved of similar joint exercises, describing them as rehearsals for an invasion, therefore, it cannot ignore the strengthening of the military bloc led by Washington and their allies and will defend regional peace with all measures.
We strongly denounce… provocative military muscle-flexing against the DPRK. The US-Japan-ROK relations have taken on the full-fledged appearance of an Asian-version NATO. The DPRK will never overlook the moves of the US and its followers to strengthen the military bloc, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The statement besides highlighted the White House’s efforts to get South Korea and Japan to join NATO, adding that Seoul’s attempts to supply weapons to Ukraine is one example of such efforts.
South Korea, for its part, expresses extreme concern and opposes the recent mutual defence pact signed between the North Korean and Russian leaders. Seoul added it would consider supplying weapons directly to Ukraine in protest of the strengthening relations between North Korea and Russia. Seoul and Washington have accused the North of supplying weapons to Russia, but both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the allegations.
In recent weeks, both Koreas Koreas have found themselves embroiled in a balloon campaign, with Pyongyang sending garbage-filled balloons to the South in response to similar messages sent to the North from the South carrying pro-Seoul propaganda.
