N Korea warns of reversals as South, US press on with drills
SEOUL: North Korea on Wednesday repeated a threat to respond to Us-south Korean military exercises it claims are an invasion rehearsal, while the United States insisted the drills were “purely defensive in nature” to maintain the South’s security.
In a statement released by state media on Wednesday, senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol condemned South Korea for continuing the allied drills and warned of unspecified counteractions that would make Seoul “realise by the minute” that it had walked into a security crisis.
A day earlier, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, said the drills were the “most vivid expression of the US hostile policy” towards North Korea and said the North will work faster to strengthen its pre-emptive strike capabilities.
The allies have not confirmed when the drills will take place or other details, but local media have reported preliminary training was under way this week to set up larger computer-simulated drills on August 16-26.
Talking to reporters in Washington, US state department spokesperson Ned Price stressed that the drills were “purely defensive in nature”.
“As we have long maintained, the United States harbours no hostile intent towards the DPRK,” Price said, using the initials of the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We support inter-korean dialogue, we support inter-korean engagement and will continue to work with our (South Korean) partners towards that end.”
The South Korean government in a statement called for North Korea to respond to its offers for dialogue and said “raising military tensions on the Korean Peninsula wouldn’t help anyone”.