North Korea's August Warning on ROK-US Joint Exercises, "War Drills and Peace Cannot Coexist"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] North Korea's external propaganda media issued a warning to South Korean forces ahead of the scheduled August South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, stating "war drills and peace cannot coexist".

On the 13th, 'Uri Minjokkkiri' published a commentary titled 'Who is the culprit behind the tense situation?' stating, "The current instability of the Korean Peninsula situation is entirely due to the reckless military confrontation provocations by the South Korean military warmongers colluding with foreign forces," and added, "War drills and military buildup provocations and peace can never coexist."

The media criticized South Korea for "being obsessed with war drills," mentioning South Korea's participation in the combined fleet comprehensive training, South Korea-U.S. joint airborne cargo loading and unloading training, joint air force training, and the maritime joint exercise Pacific Vanguard following the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises in March.

It also pointed out plans to operationalize one battalion of high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft (HUAS) Global Hawk (RQ-4) by 2023 and the import of reinforcement materials for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

The media claimed, "Recently, South Korean warmongers have been frenziedly developing and introducing armed equipment," and argued, "This clearly shows once again that the culprits who are escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and destroying peace are none other than the South Korean military warmongers."

Another propaganda outlet, 'Echo of Unification,' also published an article titled 'A Blood Tax Bill Filled with Hostile Intentions' on the same day, criticizing, "Despite the rapid spread of a malignant viral infection causing suffering to the South Korean people, they have decided to pour enormous blood taxes into the development and introduction of armed equipment without any concern for their lives."

The article detailed the costs involved in the development plan for a long-range artillery interception system called the 'Korean Iron Dome,' the vertical takeoff and landing reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle project, F-35A stealth fighter performance upgrades, and the introduction of large transport helicopters to replace the CH-47D Chinook helicopters.

It then raised its voice, stating, "The South Korean military's decision to squander enormous blood taxes on the development and introduction of war equipment without any concern for the worsening livelihood of the people is an anti-people and anti-peace criminal act."

North Korea experts argue that attention should be paid to the fact that North Korean propaganda media issued such criticism about a month before the second half South Korea-U.S. joint exercises.

Since North Korea has been urging the suspension of the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, there are also observations that whether the August exercises will be held and their scale could immediately affect inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. relations.

In this regard, the National Security Strategy Institute recently analyzed that if the August South Korea-U.S. joint exercises proceed at a normal scale, "there is a possibility of launching a solid-fuel submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that requires technical test firing."