North Korea Threatens Countermeasures Over Planned US–South Korea Drills

North Korea has condemned the forthcoming joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, calling them a provocation and warning it will take unspecified “self-defense” measures if its sovereignty is threatened, according to statements carried by state media KCNA and reported by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The North Korean defence minister said Pyongyang would adopt a “counteraction posture” and exercise its “sovereign right” in response to the drills. Neither KCNA nor Yonhap detailed the scale or timing of any retaliation, but the minister framed the manoeuvres as evidence of hostile policy by Washington and Seoul.