SEOUL — North Korea warned on Friday that it could respond with “a new level of deterrent” to upcoming joint United States -South Korea drills simulating battle against Pyongyang’s troops who were battle-hardened from their deployment in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The 11-day exercises, due to begin on Monday, are an annual fixture of the summer calendar, designed to prepare the US and South Korea to defend against the nuclear-armed North.
Pyongyang regularly labels them rehearsals for an invasion, and this week test-fired a ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan, signaling its opposition to the exercises.
But this year’s drills are tailored to prepare soldiers to fight North Koreans with modern combat experience from the Russia-Ukraine theater, including drone, cyberattack, and global positioning system (GPS) jamming capabilities.
“The US announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare,” a spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Get the latest news
delivered to your inbox
Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters
By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” added the statement, published by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has a longstanding reputation as one of the most cut-off nations in the world.
But since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it has become a key ally of the Kremlin, sending troops for its faltering war in return for economic benefits and military technology support, analysts say.
This week, Ukraine accused Moscow of launching North Korean ballistic missiles in a raid that killed at least nine people and wounded dozens of others.
Kyiv has also recently said up to 50,000 North Korean troops are due for deployment in Russia, although it has provided no evidence to back the claim.
Lessons of war
Col. Ryan Donald, spokesman for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said this week that North Korea’s deployment to the European war had changed the threat his soldiers may face on the Korean peninsula.
“They’ve taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea,” he told reporters. “Our training accounts for that threat.”
Pyongyang’s foreign ministry statement said the US-South Korea drills are being staged “at a time when military and political situation is becoming more serious with each passing day in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world.”
The “Ulchi Freedom Shield” drills will include 18,000 South Korean troops and counterparts from the 28,500-strong US contingent in the country.
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that despite airing threats of escalation, the North Korean foreign ministry statement was notable for its comparably restrained tone.
“The content is not particularly provocative or inflammatory. It is quite matter-of-fact,” Hong told AFP, adding that Pyongyang may want to keep open the possibility of future engagement with Washington.
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state since leader Kim Jong Un’s 2019 summit with US President Donald Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearization and sanctions relief.
It has recently been bristling over Japan’s gradual military buildup in the Pacific, firing off two missiles in as many weeks after Tokyo pledged to boost its defense capabilities with a “sense of urgency and crisis.”
But Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Thursday that Kim may seek a meeting with Trump, potentially after the US midterm elections in November.
ANNUAL EXERCISE A vehicle from the United States Army’s Stryker Combat Team crosses a floating bridge on the Namhan River during a river-crossing drill as part of the Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises in the city of Yeoju, Gyeonggi province, northwestern South Korea, on Aug. 27, 2025. AP FILE PHOTO