Web Desk(National Times)- North Korea warned on Friday it could respond with \u201ca new level of deterrent\u201d to upcoming joint US-South Korea drills simulating battle against Pyongyang\u2019s troops battle-hardened from deployment in the Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 11-day exercises due to begin on Monday are an annual fixture of the summer calendar, designed to prepare the United States and South Korea to defend against the nuclear-armed North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pyongyang regularly labels them rehearsals for an invasion and this week test-fired a ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan, signalling its opposition to the exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this year\u2019s drills are tailored to prepare soldiers to fight North Koreans with modern combat experience from the Russia-Ukraine theatre \u2014 including drone, cyber-attack and GPS jamming capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d a spokesman for North Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,\u201d said the statement, published by Pyongyang\u2019s Korean Central News Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Korea has a long-standing reputation as one of the most cut-off nations in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 it has become a key ally to the Kremlin, sending troops for its faltering war in return for economic benefits and military technology support, analysts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, Ukraine accused Moscow of launching North Korean ballistic missiles in a raid which killed at least nine people and wounded dozens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kyiv has also recently said up to 50,000 North Korean troops are due for deployment in Russia, although it has provided no evidence to back the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lessons of war<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesman for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said this week that North Korea\u2019s deployment to the European war had changed the threat his soldiers may face on the Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur training accounts for that threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pyongyang\u2019s foreign ministry statement said the US-South Korea drills are being staged \u201cat a time when military and political situation is becoming more serious with each passing day in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cUlchi Freedom Shield\u201d drills will include 18,000 South Korean troops and counterparts from the 28,500-strong US contingent in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that despite airing threats of escalation, the North Korean foreign ministry statement was notable for its comparably restrained tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe content is not particularly provocative or inflammatory. It is quite matter-of-fact,\u201d Hong told AFP, adding that Pyongyang may want to keep open the possibility of future engagement with Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an \u201cirreversible\u201d nuclear state since leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s 2019 summit with US President Donald Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has recently been bristling over Japan\u2019s gradual military build-up in the Pacific \u2014 firing off two missiles in as many weeks after Tokyo pledged to up its defence capabilities with a \u201csense of urgency and crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may seek a meeting with US President Donald Trump, potentially after the US midterm elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Web Desk(National Times)- North Korea warned on Friday it could respond with \u201ca new level of deterrent\u201d to upcoming joint US-South Korea drills simulating battle against Pyongyang\u2019s troops battle-hardened from deployment in the Russia-Ukraine war. The 11-day exercises due to begin on Monday are an annual fixture of the summer calendar, designed to prepare the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n