North Korea threatens countermeasures over US-South Korea-Japan Freedom Edge drills

North Korea has threatened to take countermeasures over the start of the regular Freedom Edge multidomain exercise involving South Korea, the United States and Japan.

Defense Minister Kim Song Gi said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency that if the United States and its allies attempted a new military confrontation with North Korea, Pyongyang would respond “with powerful and reflexive countermeasures from a position of strength.”

Kim also singled out the Orient Shield exercise, which the United States, Japan and Australia were due to begin on September 8, as well as the planned deployment of the US military’s latest Typhon intermediate-range missile system. He mentioned efforts to deploy a US Army multidomain rapid maneuver force to South Korea before the end of the year.

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with powerful and reflexive countermeasures from a position of strength

He accused the trilateral military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea of becoming “a dangerous offensive entity accompanied by nuclear elements.” Kim described the succession of US-led war demonstrations as a serious security threat pushing instability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond toward a limit.

Kim said North Korea would continue applying “new, advanced response capabilities” to protect its sovereignty and security interests. He warned that the country would not hesitate to fulfill what he called its constitutional duty to deter hostile threats and punish provocateurs, and said Pyongyang could demonstrate its resolve and ability through stronger and more decisive action if necessary.

The statement was Kim’s first since taking over as defense minister. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appointed him after removing No Kwang Chol at a meeting of the Workers’ Party Central Military Commission on August 29.

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a dangerous offensive entity accompanied by nuclear elements