North Korea says trimmed US-South Korea drill won’t ease its hostility

In a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong asserted that the decision to curtail the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will not modify North Korea’s assessment of the United States and South Korea as hostile forces. The drill, originally set for eleven days, was reduced to five after President Donald Trump labeled it “inappropriate and hostile.” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the schedule adjustment, which runs through August 27.

While Trump claimed that Kim Jong Un had responded positively to his invitation for dialogue, Kim Yo Jong said she was unaware of any such exchange and described it as the only foreign-policy matter she had not been informed about. She reiterated that the relationship between her brother and Trump remains “excellent” and that the North Korean leadership continues to view the exercise as a threat that pushes the peninsula toward war. Pyongyang vowed to maintain its right to self-defence and to neutralise what it calls the allies’ military threat until they abandon plans to dominate the region.