North Korea has issued a notably restrained response to next week’s annual US–South Korean military exercises, signalling an effort by both sides to cool tensions on the Korean peninsula.
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A week before the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills are set to begin, Pyongyang’s defence minister No Kwang-chol on Monday denounced the exercises as “provocative” and warned of “negative consequences”. Yet analysts say his statement was stripped of the fiery invective that has long characterised the North’s reaction to such manoeuvres.
“We strongly denounce the US and the ROK [South Korea] for their provocative moves” aimed at confrontation, No said, accusing the allies of undermining regional security. He pledged a “resolute counteraction posture” should any “provocation go beyond the boundary line”, invoking the North’s right to self-defence.
This was an unusual tone for North Korea to adopt, according to Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification think tank.
“Pyongyang is putting out a plainly worded statement as it can’t just leave it ahead of the coming joint drills,” he told This Week in Asia. “It was carefully calibrated to avoid aggressive, hostile expressions” – even though the response came from a higher-ranking official compared with last year.
This year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield will be partly scaled back, with around 20 field drills postponed to September due to an ongoing heatwave.