2023-08-21 22:18:51
Kim Jong-un increases tension with the West amid military exercises between the US and South Korea (Europa Press/Contact/Kim Jae-Hwan)
North Korea’s state news agency warned Tuesday that joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States might trigger a “thermonuclear war.”
The KCNA report condemned the Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, a major joint exercise between Seoul and Washington that began on Tuesday, as being, according to Pyongyang, “an aggressive character.”
In addition to the South Korean and American participants, troops from nine member countries of the United Nations Command (UNC) will join the exercise: Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand.
Likewise, the dictatorship of Kim Jong-un notified the Japanese coast guard that it will launch a satellite in the coming days, according to Japanese media reports.
The satellite, scheduled for launch between August 24 and 31, might be the military reconnaissance device that Pyongyang already tried unsuccessfully to put into orbit in May this year, the Kyodo news agency reported.
The US and South Korea began joint military exercises (The Defense Ministry / Handout via REUTERS)
This new threat from the North Korean regime comes following Kim Jong-un visited a naval unit and supervised a new test of strategic cruise missiles.
Kim inspected one of his fleets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, and watched as the crew introduced the “strategic cruise missile” launch exercise, the North Korean state agency KCNA reported.
According to the state press, the dictator inspected the Second Flotilla of Surface Ships of the East Sea Fleet Guard, where he observed “the state of readiness of warships for combat and war.”
The drill was “aimed at reconfirming the combat role of the ship and the characteristic of its missile system and making the sailors adept at carrying out the strike mission in real warfare.”
Amid this tension in Asia, US President Joe Biden hosted Camp David last week to receive South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The three agreed to a multi-year plan of regular exercises in all territories, going beyond rehearsals in response to Pyongyang, and made a formal “consultation commitment” during crises, for which Biden said he would open a hotline.
They also reached an agreement to share data on North Korea in real time and to hold summits every year.
With information from AFP and EFE
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