North Korea warned on Friday that it could respond with “a new level of deterrent” to upcoming joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, which will simulate combat against North Korean forces with battlefield experience gained from the Russia-Ukraine war.
The 11-day drills are scheduled to begin on Monday and are held annually to prepare US and South Korean forces to defend against nuclear-armed North Korea.
Pyongyang routinely describes the exercises as preparations for an invasion. Earlier this week, North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan, signalling its opposition to the upcoming drills.
This year, the exercises have been adapted to prepare troops for North Korean forces equipped with modern battlefield experience reportedly gained from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including drone warfare, cyberattacks and GPS jamming.
“The US announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” the statement, published by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency, added.
North Korea’s growing ties with Russia
North Korea has long been regarded as one of the world’s most isolated countries. However, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pyongyang has strengthened its partnership with Moscow.
Analysts say North Korea has supplied troops to support Russia’s war effort in exchange for economic assistance and military technology.
Ukraine this week accused Russia of using North Korean ballistic missiles in an attack that killed at least nine people and injured dozens.
Kyiv has also claimed that as many as 50,000 North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia, although it has not provided evidence supporting the claim.
Military lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war
Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesperson for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said North Korea’s involvement in the European conflict had changed the potential threat facing troops on the Korean peninsula.
“They’ve taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea,” he told reporters.
“Our training accounts for that threat.”
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the exercises were taking place as global military and political tensions continued to rise across Europe, the Middle East and other regions.
The “Ulchi Freedom Shield” exercises will involve around 18,000 South Korean troops along with personnel from the 28,500-strong US military contingent stationed in South Korea.
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the North Korean statement was relatively restrained despite its warning of a possible escalation.
“The content is not particularly provocative or inflammatory. It is quite matter-of-fact,” Hong told AFP.
He suggested that Pyongyang could be seeking to preserve the possibility of future engagement with Washington.
North Korea maintains nuclear stance
Pyongyang has repeatedly described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state since the collapse of a 2019 summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump over disagreements surrounding denuclearisation and sanctions relief.
North Korea has also recently criticised Japan’s expanding military capabilities in the Pacific. Pyongyang fired two missiles in two weeks after Tokyo pledged to strengthen its defence capabilities with a “sense of urgency and crisis”.
