The missile launches, North Korea’s sixth weapons testing activity this year, occurred on the same day that the US and South Korean militaries concluded their annual Freedom Shield command post exercise. The 11-day training was the allies’ first major joint military exercises since the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, and the two countries held diverse field training exercises alongside the Freedom Shield drills.
US and South Korean officials describe their combined military drills as defensive, but North Korea slams them as a major security threat. Hours after this year’s Freedom Shield training began on March 10, North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea.On Friday, North Korea’s Defense Ministry alleged the recent US-South Korean drills involved simulations to destroy underground tunnels in the North to remove its nuclear weapons. An unidentified ministry spokesperson said the US and South Korea would face consequences if they perform similar provocative actions again.
“The accumulated reckless military moves of the UK and the ROK, seized with the daydream that they can jeopardize the sovereignty and security of a nuclear weapons state, can undoubtedly bring the gravest consequences they do not want,” the spokesperson said in a statement carried in KCNA.ROK is the official name of the Republic of Korea, South Korea.
North Korea often churns out warlike rhetoric and threats of attacks when the US and South Korea militaries conduct big drills. South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Friday warned North Korea not to use its defensive drills with the US as a pretext to launch provocations.
Trump has said he’s willing to reach out to Kim to revive their nuclear diplomacy, but North Korea hasn’t made any public responses to Trump’s overture. Many experts say Kim, now preoccupied with his support of Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine with the supply of troops and conventional weapons, won’t likely embrace Trump’s outreach anytime soon, but could seriously consider it when the war ends.
Kim and Trump met three times in 2018-19 to discuss North Korea’s possible nuclear disarmament, but their diplomacy eventually fell apart due to disputes over US-led economic sanctions on North Korea.
On Friday, Russian state news agency Tass reported that Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu has arrived in Pyongyang and plans to meet with Kim. It gave no further details.
In 2023, when Shoigu, then a defense minister, traveled to North Korea, Kim gave him a personal tour of a North Korean arms exhibition in what outside critics likened to a sales pitch. In September 2024, Shoigu, then with the new security council post, went to North Korea again for a meeting with Kim, and the two discussed expanding cooperation, according to North Korea’s state media.
