North Korea has issued an ominous warning about “the highest risk of clashes this year” between the totalitarian state and its neighbor to the south, which could end in “a nuclear strike,” according to South Korean media.
Yonhap News Agency, a major media outlet in Seoul, reported on Thursday that North Korea media condemned recent Army artillery exercises and naval firing drills and exercises.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, said the exercises are “self destructive” and called South Koreans “warmongers,” according to Yonhap.
“There will be the highest risk of clashes this year, as invading forces, such as the United States and Japan, will crawl into the peninsula under the South Korean puppet group’s plea and active cooperation and they will likely stage unprecedented provocative war moves such as a nuclear strike,” the KCNA said.
South Korea’s recent military exercises, which included naval exercises involving warships and aircraft, were conducted to “strengthen its defense posture against North Korea’s potential provocations,” Yonhap reported.
North Korean media warned that if South Korea continues its military exercises, it will face the “most painful moments they cannot even imagine.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a frontline military unit in the eastern county of Yeoncheon in December and told troops to quickly retaliate if conflict arose from its neighbors to the north.
“I urge you to immediately and firmly crush the enemy’s will for a provocation on the spot,” Yoon said.
North Korea has also been preparing for conflict with the United States, according to the KCNA, which recently reported that Kim ordered the North Korean military, munitions industry, nuclear weapons sector and civil defense sectors to accelerate war preparations amid, what he called, unprecedented confrontational moves by the U.S.
Tensions have been growing between an already-strained U.S.-North Korea relationship during Russia’s war with Ukraine.
As the U.S. remains one of Ukraine’s closest allies and biggest aid contributors since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, North Korea has been growing its ties with Russia.
U.S. officials have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with military equipment, a claim Russia has denied.
