{"id":44378,"date":"2026-08-14T13:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44378"},"modified":"2026-08-14T13:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:11:07","slug":"north-korea-warns-of-overwhelming-response-to-u-s-south-korea-drills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44378","title":{"rendered":"North Korea warns of &#8216;overwhelming&#8217; response to U.S.-South Korea drills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/6341786690079\/2026\/i\/17866904826362\/v1.5\/North-Korea-warns-of-overwhelming-response-to-US-South-Korea-drills.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>North Korea on Friday condemned the upcoming U.S.-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. In this photo, taken Thursday, U.S. military vehicles are parked at a base in Dongducheon. Photo by Yonhap<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">SEOUL, Aug. 14 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> North Korea on Friday condemned an upcoming major U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise, calling it a rehearsal for an &#8220;aggressive war&#8221; and warning that Pyongyang will respond to any threats with &#8220;overwhelming force.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An unnamed spokesperson for the North&#8217;s Foreign Ministry made the comments in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.\n<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson said this year&#8217;s 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which kicks off Monday, is more provocative than previous versions, claiming it is intended to &#8220;complete preparations for the substantial military confrontation with the DPRK.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic People&#8217;s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. and South Korean officials said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/08\/10\/korea-Ulchi-Freedom-Shield-26-US-South-Korea-joint-military-exercise-launch\/3191786354705\/\" target=\"_blank\">earlier this week<\/a> that the exercise would draw on the evolving nature of modern warfare as seen in recent conflicts, including threats from drones, GPS jamming and cyberattacks.<\/p>\n<p>A U.S. Forces Korea spokesman also said that North Korea&#8217;s military cooperation with Russia, including its deployment of troops to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine, will be factored into the exercise.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,&#8221; the KCNA statement said.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea routinely denounces the allies&#8217; joint exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and frequently responds with weapons tests. On Wednesday, Pyongyang fired a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/08\/12\/North-Korea-launches-ballistic-missile-East-Sea-before-Ulchi-Freedom-Shield-military-exercise\/5411786506078\/\" target=\"_blank\">ballistic missile<\/a> toward the East Sea, Seoul&#8217;s military said, less than a week after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/08\/06\/North-Korea-fired-short-range-ballistic-missile-east-sea\/2161786011032\/\" target=\"_blank\">similar launch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The United States and South Korea stressed this week that the exercise, which runs from Aug. 17-27, is defensive in nature.<\/p>\n<p>In a press statement issued Friday, the U.S. Eighth Army said Ulchi Freedom Shield will include a combined arms live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting, a wet gap crossing and detainee processing training in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.<\/p>\n<p>The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman also criticized growing trilateral cooperation among the United States, South Korea and Japan, calling it a &#8220;nuclear alliance&#8221; and saying it amplifies the danger posed by the upcoming exercise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The DPRK remains steadfast in its will to frustrate outsiders&#8217; hostile acts with the most powerful and overwhelming force and absolutely defend the supreme interests of the state security,&#8221; the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea&#8217;s Unification Ministry noted Friday that the statement was the North&#8217;s first official comment on the upcoming military exercise.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We view the statement as reflecting their assessment of the current security environment,&#8221; ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong said during a regular press briefing.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate statement carried by KCNA Friday, North Korea said it would continue to expand and strengthen its nuclear deterrent. An unnamed military commentator accused the Pentagon of drafting a new strategy to lower the threshold for nuclear weapons use, which risks pushing the world to the &#8220;threshold of nuclear war.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The commentary cited foreign media reports that the new U.S. strategy would emphasize the use of tactical nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with China or Russia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This shows that the U.S. nuclear strategy is offensively turning into the one for using nukes in real war from so-called one for deterrence,&#8221; the commentary said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will as ever steadily expand and strengthen the nuclear deterrent for self-defense &#8230; and make the enemy states realize the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by their adventurous option against the DPRK,&#8221; it added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea on Friday condemned the upcoming U.S.-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. In this photo, taken Thursday, U.S. military vehicles are parked at a base in Dongducheon. Photo by Yonhap SEOUL, Aug. 14 (UPI) &#8212; North Korea on Friday condemned an upcoming major U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise, calling it a rehearsal&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/i\/6341786690079\/2026\/1\/17866904826362\/v1.5\/North-Korea-warns-of-overwhelming-response-to-US-South-Korea-drills.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}