The spokesman of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army issued a statement on the 22nd to condemn the joint military exercise of “Operation Ulchi-Freedom Shield” conducted by the United States and South Korea.
The spokesman stated that the US and South Korea had launched the large-scale joint military exercise “Operation Ulchi-Freedom Shield” on the 18th. This joint military exercise was an attempt to launch a preemptive attack on North Korea, and was a provocative and aggressive live exercise.
The statement pointed out that the reckless military exercises of the US and South Korea were posing a serious threat to the security environment of North Korea, and were extremely escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the region. Some British warships participating in joint maritime training in the Pacific had entered the Pyeongtaek combat base, and forces from member countries of the United Nations Command had participated in the joint military exercise. “Operation Ulchi-Freedom Shield” had become a multinational joint military exercise, with further escalation of military threats to North Korea.
The statement also claimed that the military exercises of the US and South Korea had led to an imbalance of power in the region, and that the US and South Korea were the main perpetrators of disrupting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean army would maintain its combat readiness posture and would completely suppress and crush any anti-North Korean military action. The North Korean army would fully exercise its right to self-defense without discrimination in response to military provocations that threatened North Korea from hostile forces.
The joint military exercise between the US and South Korea, code-named “Operation Ulchi-Freedom Shield,” officially started on the 18th. On the 20th, North Korea’s KCNA published a critical commentary on the joint military exercise. The article claimed that the large-scale joint military exercise conducted by the US and South Korea was aggressive and provocative in nature, and had a negative impact on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region. (By Dong Haitao, Central News)