North Korea condemned the annual military exercises between the United States and South Korea on Tuesday, threatening a thermonuclear war over recent trilateral agreements to strengthen ties between the leaders of the United States, South Korea, and Japan at Camp David.
On Monday, South Korea and the United States kicked out the Ulchi Freedom Shield summer exercises, which are intended to improve their joint responses to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
Pyongyang has consistently condemned the drills as a dress rehearsal for war.
North Korea said in a statement on Friday that the summit between the United States, South Korea, and Japan at the Camp David presidential retreat was aimed at developing a nuclear war provocation.
“If the agreements fabricated at the Camp David Resort are additionally put into practice in the war drill, the possibility of an outbreak of thermonuclear war on the Korean peninsula will become more realistic”, the analysis warned.
The leaders of the United States, South Korea, and Japan decided to increase military and economic cooperation in order to project unity in the face of China’s growing power and the North’s nuclear threats in their first standalone meeting.
North Korea’s remarked that the current circumstances required its military to take the initiative, offensive and overwhelming action for war, but provided no further details.
After a botched launch in May, North Korea has claimed it will launch a satellite between August 24 and August 31 in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, according to the Japanese Coast Guard said on Tuesday.
South Korean MPs have stated that the North may conduct an intercontinental ballistic missile launch or take other military measures in response to allies’ drills or last week’s trilateral summit of South Korea, the United States, and Japan.
