The United States, South Korea and Japan have started joint air and naval drills that North Korea has condemned as a “dangerous idea”.
The manoeuvres, known as “Freedom Edge”, began off South Korea’s Jeju Island on Monday and will last until Friday.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said the exercises, which will involve enhanced ballistic-missile and air-defence scenarios, would be “the most advanced demonstration of trilateral defence cooperation to date”.
Meanwhile, the South Korean Defence Ministry said it would improve the allies’ ability to counter growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, according to The Associated Press news agency.
There have been protests in Seoul on Monday against the military exercises.
In comments published by North Korean state media on Sunday, leader Kim Jong Un’s influential sister hit out at what she called South Korea, Japan and the US’s “reckless show of strength” in “the wrong places”.
Kim Yo Jong, who is vice department director of the North Korean governing party’s central committee, threatened that their joint military drills would “undoubtedly bring about negative consequences for themselves”.
Last week, her brother visited weapon research facilities, with Pyongyang saying it would accelerate the building of its conventional army as well as its nuclear programme.
The message was reiterated on Monday, when the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations declared that its position as a nuclear-weapons state was irreversible.
Pyongyang has repeatedly indicated that it is not interested in resuming nuclear negotiations with Seoul and Washington, after talks broke down during US President Donald Trump’s first term.
It has deepened its alliance with Moscow in recent years, sending thousands of troops to the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukraine seized territory in a surprise offensive in August 2024.
The isolated country also maintains ties with China, its largest trading partner. Earlier this month, the North Korean leader travelled to China, where he appeared beside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at an enormous military parade.
Kim also held separate talks with Putin. During his visit to Beijing, Kim vowed to Xi that their countries’ “friendship will never change”.
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