North Korea warns of reprisal against South Korea-US drills amid signs of tensions easing

SEOUL – North Korea denounced on Aug 11 a major joint exercise planned by the South Korean and US militaries as "direct military provocation" and warned of counteraction, amid signs of easing tension across the border under a new leader in Seoul.

North Korean Defence Minister No Kwang Chol said his country’s military has an “absolute mission” to defend national security against the

large-scale 11-day drills

by South Korea and the US, which he said posed a real and dangerous threat.

"The armed forces of the DPRK will cope with the war drills of the US and the (South) with thoroughgoing and resolute counteraction posture and strictly exercise the sovereign right," Mr No said in a statement issued via KCNA state news agency.

DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Mr No said the drills staged under the pretext of defence against threats were additional proof of confrontational intent by the two countries that raises hostility and further destabilises regional security.

North Korea routinely denounces military drills by the South and the US, having called some previous exercises "a rehearsal" for nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, even as Pyongyang conducted a range of missile tests and live fire artillery exercises.

South Korea and the US said last week the annual exercise would begin on Aug 18 to test command control and troop mobilisation under an upgraded security strategy against heightened threat of nuclear warfare by North Korea.

However, the allies said a major part of the field exercise would be postponed and conducted separately in September, citing weather conditions.

The postponement was widely seen as prompted by South Korea's liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who won a snap election in June, to ease tension with Pyongyang.

Ties between the rival Koreas had plunged to some of the most hostile points in recent years, as the North pressed on with developing nuclear attack capabilities and dramatically boosted military ties with Russia.

While Pyongyang has publicly rebuffed renewed outreach by Mr Lee and Washington for dialogue, it was making moves seen as reciprocating some South Korean actions to ease tensions.

South Korea said on Aug 9 it had detected the North's military

removing some loudspeakers at the border

, days after the South began dismantling similar equipment that had blared propaganda across the border.

North Korea also seemed to have used a more restrained tone in criticisms about the US-South Korea joint exercises, said an official at Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which oversees ties between the two Koreas.

Pyongyang “appears to focus on expressing its position on the drills, rather than making military threats,” ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam said at a briefing on Aug 11. REUTERS