The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday lambasted joint military drills between South Korea and the United States and vowed to strengthen the North’s military power against hostile forces.
The statement by Kim Yo-jong, who serves as the vice department director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, came as Seoul and Washington are conducting a two-week joint annual exercise to strengthen readiness against the North’s military threats.
“Entering this year, the U.S. has staged more than 80 rounds of military drills with its lackeys and those individually staged by the ROK puppets total more than 60,” Kim said in the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), using the acronym of South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
“This evidently shows who the arch criminals straining the regional situation are.”
Kim also accused the allies and Japan of heightening tensions in the region “like a kindled detonating fuse” by holding trilateral military
drills, according to the KCNA.
“We will continue to build up our overwhelming and most powerful military muscle to defend our sovereignty and security and regional peace. No one can break our determination,” she said.
In another KCNA statement by the chief of the foreign news section of the Department of Press and Information at the North’s foreign ministry, the North called on Seoul and Washington to immediately halt their ongoing exercise.
The official defended the North’s tactical drill simulating a nuclear counterattack earlier this week as a “legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense” to deter a war.
The North has used joint South Korea-U.S. drills as a pretext for its military provocations while ramping up provocative acts, including weapons tests and aggressive rhetoric.
On Monday, North Korea conducted a tactical drill simulating a nuclear counterattack involving super-large multiple rocket launchers, which are assessed as short-range missiles that could put the entire South Korean territo
ry within range.
Source: Yonhap News Agency