North Korea threatens to take self-defence measures against the US-Seoul military exercises
Pyongyang has criticised the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, describing it as dangerous and geared towards real-life war scenarios, whilst Washington has scaled back the exercises ahead of schedule on Trump’s orders
Key points
North Korea has threatened to take “self-defence” measures in response to the joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, vowing to “completely neutralise” what it describes as the threat posed by enemy countries. This was reported by Yonhap, citing a statement released by the official North Korean news agency KCNA.
Ongoing exercises
Pyongyang has set its sights on the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, which began on Monday and will end on Friday, rather than on 27 August as originally planned. According to KCNA, the various elements of the exercises have become ‘extremely dangerous’ and very different from in the past, with an increasing focus on actual combat scenarios.
Trump’s message ignored
North Korea has claimed that Seoul is turning its territory into a ‘gathering place for multinational forces’ and a testing ground for modern warfare. The statement, however, makes no mention of US President Donald Trump’s order to scale back joint military exercises, which is seen as a possible sign of openness towards Pyongyang.
US-South Korea joint military exercises to end on Friday
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the joint US-South Korea military exercises will end on Friday, ahead of the scheduled date of 27 August. This is according to the South Korean military, as reported by Yonhap, following instructions from US President Donald Trump to scale back the manoeuvres substantially.
