Kim was quoted as being called to the South Korean Central Communications Agency (KCNA) when they visited naval destroyers on Monday after the US and its regional allies began joint military training this week, including the US and its regional allies testing an upgraded response to North Korea’s rising nuclear threat this week.
“The intensified military nexus and muscle flexion in the US South Korea are the most obvious manifestations of their will to fire a war,” Kim said in relation to South Korea in South Korea’s official name (ROK), emphasizing that recent joint training includes a “nuclear element.”
“In the general situation, there is a need to bring about fundamental and rapid change in the rapid expansion of existing military theory and practice and nuclearization,” he added.
The US and South Korea launched an annual joint exercise on Monday aimed at what they claimed was a preparation for a potential threat from nuclear-armed North Korea.
The 11-day annual exercise, known as the Ulchi Freedom Shield, includes “several large-scale live-action training events.”
According to the statement, the annual exercise aims to strengthen the combined, joint, all-domain, and interagency operating environment, thereby strengthening the alliance’s response capabilities.
Pyongyang regularly criticizes drills such as rehearsals for invasions and responds sometimes with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington claim to be “purely defensive.”
South Korean President Ye Mi Myung on Friday vowed to “respect” North Korea’s political system and build a “military trust.”
Lee has pledged to pursue dialogue with the North without prerequisites since the June election, but Pyongyang says South Korea’s ongoing military ties with Washington have made a pointless effort to reconcile.
Last month, North Korean leader’s sister Kim Yeo-Jong rejected the prospect of a dialogue with South Korea and criticized Seoul’s “blind trust” in its alliance with the US.
She also denied reports that North Korea was removing speakers near the country’s borders.
In October, North Korea amended its constitution to declare the South a “hostile state” after Kim refused to reject the long-standing official goal of unification.
rhm/