North Korea said it’s taking "important and practical” measures to deter any acts of aggression by the U.S. and South Korea as the two allies prepare to hold large-scale military drills through the next two weeks.
Pyongyang discussed and adopted "steps for making more effective, powerful and offensive use of the country’s war deterrent in coping with the present situation,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday. "War provocations” by the U.S. and South Korea are reaching its red line, it said.
The decision was made at a meeting of the Central Military Commission of North Korea’s Workers’ Party in which leader Kim Jong Un was present, according to KCNA.
The U.S. and South Korea are planning to hold their "Freedom Shield” exercises March 13-23, aimed at bolstering their "joint defense posture in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” according to the militaries of the two countries. The drills are expected to be some of the largest the two have held in years.
North Korea, which for decades has decried such drills as a prelude to an invasion and nuclear war, has pledged an unprecedented response. It has demanded that the U.S. and South Korea halt hostile military actions, criticizing the U.S. for deliberately increasing tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the broader region.
Last week, Kim presided over live-fire drills where his military launched several suspected short-range ballistic missiles.