N. Korea slams Ulchi Freedom Shield as 'rehearsal for war of aggression'

North Korea condemned the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States, calling it "in essence a rehearsal for a war of aggression."

The North's Foreign Ministry issued the statement through a spokesperson's commentary on Thursday.

Pyongyang said Washington had openly acknowledged that this year's exercise differs markedly from those of the past five years, with a focus on mastering war-fighting capabilities based on new aspects of modern warfare — an admission, it argued, that the drills are aimed at completing preparations for actual military confrontation with North Korea. "This is a self-confession that the exercise, which the US and South Korea insist is so-called 'annual' and 'defensive,' is in essence a rehearsal for a war of aggression," the statement said.

North Korea also said the large-scale war exercise — conducted at a time when military and political tensions are intensifying across Europe, the Middle East and beyond, and when what it called the abuse of US power has become routine — is generating a level of security instability on the Korean Peninsula and surrounding region unlike that of previous years. It added that the drills, which it characterized as an aggression war exercise by adversary states whose "provocative nature and danger" have escalated beyond last year, pose a grave threat to the country's security and the region's security environment.

The statement said US attempts to restore what it called its military hegemony and unilateral threat posture on the Korean Peninsula — a posture it described as having become an irreversible part of the past — through the constant updating and rehearsal of war scenarios "can never be realized." "Applying a new level of deterrence to a new level of threat is our consistent principle of security guarantee," it said.

North Korea said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's resolve to frustrate all hostile acts from outside with "the most powerful and overwhelming response capability" and to absolutely defend the supreme interests of national security "is unshakeable." It added that the confrontation of forces created by adversary states "will not be tolerated in the slightest," and that its stance of thoroughly rejecting any threat or challenge through the exercise of what it called responsible and resolute self-defense rights "will be expressed more clearly."