A spokesman for The North Korean Defense Ministry criticized “the hectic war exercises of the puppet Republic of Korea (official name of the South) and the subservient forces led by the United States.”.
This is what the ministry said The maneuvers “stand in stark contrast to the reality in which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the North's official name) mobilizes military forces on a large scale for economic construction and improving the wellbeing of the people.”.
In a column published by North Korea's state news agency KCNA, the spokesman added that the exercise “reaffirms who is the source of regional instability and shows more clearly who is the main criminal threatening humanity with nuclear weapons.”
North Korea often accuses its allies of using these exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion of North Korean territory, although both the United States and South Korea insist they are “purely defensive” maneuvers.
“Largescale war exercises organized by the state with the world's largest nuclear arsenal and more than ten satellite states against a state on the Korean Peninsula, where a nuclear war can start with a single spark, can never be called “defensive.”” said Pyongyang.
This edition of the biennial exercises, called Freedom Shield, will take place in 13 countries until March 11, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand.
All of these countries are part of the international coalition under the auspices of the United Nations and led by the United States that defended South Korea from the invasion of the North that triggered the Korean War (195053).