North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong blasts US-Japan-South Korea war games off Jeju Island

North Korea’s most powerful woman after Kim Jong Un is warning Washington, Seoul and Tokyo to back off. A day before the three allies kick off their “Freedom Edge” war games off South Korea’s Jeju Island, Kim Yo Jong called the drills “dangerous” and a “reckless show of strength”.

“This reminds us that the reckless display of power displayed by the US, Japan, and South Korea in the wrong places … will undoubtedly bring about negative consequences for themselves,” Kim said in a statement carried by state media on Sunday.

The week-long naval, air and missile-defence drills are the first big trilateral exercise since Trump returned to the White House and Lee Jae-myung became South Korea’s president. US officials say about 28,500 American troops are currently stationed in South Korea.

Kim’s warning followed her brother’s high-profile tour of weapons labs, where he vowed to push ahead with nuclear and conventional military upgrades. Analysts in Seoul told AFP the North sees the joint exercises as “scenarios for limited or full-scale nuclear strikes” and will use them to justify its own weapons expansion.

Adding to the tension, the US and South Korea plan to stage “Iron Mace” tabletop drills next week focused on integrating nuclear and conventional forces. It will be the first such exercise under Trump and Lee.

North Korean party heavyweight Pak Jong Chon added his own threat via KCNA, saying that if “hostile forces” keep flaunting their power, Pyongyang will respond “more clearly and strongly”.

Since its failed 2019 summit with Washington, the North has declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state. Kim Jong Un has also deepened ties with Moscow, sending thousands of North Korean troops to Ukraine and signing a mutual defence pact with Vladimir Putin last year.