North Korean leader’s sister warns against US joint drills
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ms Kim Yo Jong warned joint military exercises of US, South Korea and Japan could bring about "negative consequences" for themselves.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
SEOUL – Ms Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, warned that joint military exercises of US, South Korea and Japan could bring about “negative consequences” for themselves, the North’s state media reported on Sept 14.
South Korea, Japan and the US will conduct annual defensive drills called Freedom Edge starting on Sept 15 to upgrade aerial, naval and cyber-operational capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, South Korea’s military has said.
“This reminds us that the reckless display of power displayed by the US, Japan and South Korea in the wrong places, namely around the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, will undoubtedly bring about negative consequences for themselves,” Ms Kim said via state news agency KCNA, using North Korea’s official name.
South Korea and the US also plan to stage the Iron Mace tabletop exercises next week on integrating their conventional and nuclear capabilities against North Korea’s threats, South Korean local media outlets reported.
If “hostile forces” continue to boast about their power through those joint drills, North Korea will take countermeasures “more clearly and strongly”, North Korea’s top party official Pak Jong Chon said in a separate dispatch via KCNA.
Pyongyang has traditionally criticised those joint drills as rehearsals for invasion and in some cases responded with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive. REUTERS
