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Pyongyang said that Seoul chose to conduct joint military exercises with the United States, which is risking a security crisis.
North Korea threatened to respond to the U.S.-South Korea military exercise, calling it an invasion exercise, saying that Seoul was facing a “serious security crisis” after missing an opportunity to improve relations between the DPRK and South Korea.
Senior politician Jin Yongzhe’s statement was issued on Wednesday, a day before the US and South Korean troops began preliminary training in preparation for next week’s annual exercise.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong Ye Require Washington withdrew troops from the peninsula.
Kim Yong Chol stated that South Korea must “clearly understand how much they must pay” because they choose to form an alliance with Washington instead of peace between North Korea.
He said that after “giving up the opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations,” South Korea responded to North Korea’s “acts of hostility in good faith.”
He added: “We will make them aware of how dangerous choices they have made and how serious a security crisis they will face because of the wrong choices.”
Kim Young-cheol, a senior official of the ruling Labor Party, served as Kim Jong-un’s special envoy before the 2019 Hanoi summit, and met with then-U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.
The Kim Trump summit broke down because of the lifting of sanctions and the willingness of North Korea, which possesses nuclear weapons, to give up in return, and negotiations have basically come to a standstill since then.
But in an unexpected gesture of reconciliation last month, Seoul and Pyongyang resumed cross-border communications that had been interrupted more than a year ago, announcing that the leaders of the two countries have agreed to work on improving relations. However, the new outbreak casts doubt on South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s goal of improving relations with Pyongyang in the final year of his term. It also increases the possibility of North Korea’s new missile tests, which Pyongyang has often done in the past to express its dissatisfaction.
More worryingly, the South Korean government said on Wednesday that North Korea failed to answer the hotline’s routine calls for the second day in a row.
South Korea also called on Pyongyang to respond to its dialogue proposal, stating that “increasing military tensions on the Korean peninsula will not help anyone.”
At the same time, the United States emphasized that its exercises with South Korea are “defensive in nature.”
“As we have long insisted, the United States is not hostile to North Korea,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We support inter-Korean dialogue, we support inter-Korean contacts, and will continue to work with our (South Korean) partners to achieve this goal.”
Analysts said that Pyongyang may use harsh words to increase its influence in future negotiations, forcing South Korea to make concessions, or distracting attention from the domestic economic crisis.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said in an email to reporters: “North Korea’s increased opposition to the reduction of U.S.-South Korea defense exercises seems to be more about domestic politics than sending a signal to Washington.” “After a long period of time, After the self-imposed pandemic blockade, the Kim regime is blaming it for its efforts to restart the economy.
“Pyongyang is also trying to pressure South Korean presidential candidates to express their disagreements on US sanctions and denuclearization policies.”
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