North Korean Defense Chief Condemns Freedom Edge Drills, Threatens Countermeasures

North Korea has threatened “strong and immediate countermeasures” in response to the Freedom Edge military exercise launched by South Korea, the United States and Japan on the 7th.

The statement came from North Korean Defense Minister Kim Song Gil and was reported by the Korean Central News Agency. He accused the three countries of conducting the multidomain joint exercise again under the pretext of responding to a so-called nuclear and missile threat.

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If the United States and its allies plot a new military confrontation with us, we will take strong and immediate countermeasures from a position of strength.

Kim said the trilateral military coordination among the United States, Japan and South Korea was becoming a dangerous offensive entity involving nuclear elements. He also described the uninterrupted U.S.-led war exercises as a serious security threat pushing instability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond the region toward a limit.

“If the United States and its allies plot a new military confrontation with us, we will take strong and immediate countermeasures from a position of strength,” Kim said.

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The United States, Japan and South Korea are once again conducting the provocative trilateral multidomain military exercise Freedom Edge under the pretext of responding to a so-called nuclear and missile threat.