North’s leader Kim Jong-un says South-U.S. military drills show countries’ ‘will to ignite a war’

Kim made the remarks during an inspection of the Choe Hyon, the state’s first 5,000-ton-class destroyer, at the Nampho Shipyard in South Pyongan Province, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 19. He reportedly reviewed weapons system integration tests aboard the vessel.

Kim said Seoul and Washington’s deepening military cooperation in its joint Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is “the most obvious manifestation of their will to ignite a war and the source of destroying the peace and security environment in the region.”

He said that the long-standing drills have always been “provocative and dangerous in their nature,” but that “the gravity is increasing from the characteristics that they are recently plotting military nexus with the nuclear element involved.”

Kim stressed that the shifting situation “requires us to take counteraction with proactive and overwhelming changes,” instructing the navy to play a central role in strengthening national defense capabilities, according to the KCNA.

He added that “enhancing our navy’s operational ability is an urgent matter” for the regime, both to advance its military development and to address North Korea’s strategic vulnerabilities given its geography.

He also envisioned that the navy would soon become a reliable force in the country’s nuclear weapons program.

“The Navy will become a reliable force firmly performing a part in the composition of the state nuclear forces and the realm of nuclear use in the near future,” he said.

Kim underlined deterrence as the foundation of North Korea’s defense strategy.

“The most reliable and steadfast way and guarantee for controlling and keeping the security environment of the region and firmly defending the sovereignty and security of the DPRK is only to make enemies afraid of the DPRK,” he said, referring to North Korea’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Such view of the DPRK on controlling the situation and the national defence strategy will remain unchanged,” he added.

He vowed that Pyongyang would continue to take strong steps to expand its military power.

“Important measures for the accelerated growth of the national defence capabilities will surely be taken continuously and the firm will and capabilities of the DPRK to defend the sovereignty and security of the country will be expressed through practical actions,” he said.

BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]