N. Korea calls joint US-South Korea air drills 'provocative,' vows to counter threats 'with force'

North Korea condemned the ongoing South Korea-US joint air exercise Freedom Flag as "a large-scale combined air drill of a provocative nature targeting our state," vowing to "thoroughly suppress threats with force."

A Defense Ministry spokesperson said Friday in a statement that "the warmongers of the US and South Korean military have mobilized vast air forces" for the exercise.

The spokesperson said the drills involve not only the air forces of both countries but also army, navy and marine corps units, with fighter jets, airborne early warning aircraft, aerial refueling tankers and attack drones all deployed. The spokesperson also said the US III Marine Expeditionary Force conducted its multi-domain reconnaissance exercise on the Korean Peninsula for the first time, having previously held such drills in Hawaii.

The spokesperson said the exercise "clearly reveals the gap between the 'defensive nature' of the drills they claim and the actual military objectives they pursue."

The statement also said that "as the South Korean military gangsters are deliberately escalating tensions on the Korean-Chinese border, the intensifying military movements of hostile states at our doorstep heighten the risk of a sudden armed conflict that could bring catastrophic consequences."

The spokesperson went on to say that North Korea reserves the right to respond with force to any hostile acts threatening its security in the name of exercising sovereignty, adding, "There are no limits to our choices for maintaining a powerful deterrence posture and enhancing control over the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region."

"The clearest confrontational intent will be met with the clearest will to respond. Our armed forces will thoroughly suppress threats with force and will act only in ways that hostile states can understand," the spokesperson said.

Freedom Flag is a large-scale combined air exercise held twice a year by the South Korean and US air forces to strengthen their combined operational capabilities and interoperability.