North Korea denounced South Korea-U.S. Military exercises and separate U.S. -Japan drills on Tuesday, describing them as hostile states’ “muscle flexing” and warning that it would respond under a “tit-for-tat principle based on strong power.”
The warning came after South Korea began its annual Hoguk field exercise with U.S. Forces on Monday. Japan also launched its large-scale Keen Sword drills with the United States that day. Forces Korea was participating in Hoguk to improve interoperability with South Korean troops.
North Korea said the exercises threatened its security interests and regional stability. It accused Seoul of openly conducting an exercise with an aggressive and provocative character and said escalating threats would require stronger deterrence.
The North said repeated provocations would draw a prompt response involving stronger capabilities. It also said it would continue upgrading and demonstrating what it called a reliable self-defense deterrent to defend its sovereignty.
Hoguk is scheduled to continue through Oct. 30 and is designed to strengthen operational capabilities and military readiness across land, maritime and air forces. South Korean self-propelled howitzers were placed on standby at a training ground in the border city of Paju as the exercise began.