Pyongyang condemns maneuvers, says its threats are not “empty words”

Seoul.- North Korea today harshly condemned the major military maneuvers that Seoul and Washington are carrying out these days in the south of the peninsula and assured that its warnings about the use of its nuclear arsenal are not “empty words.”

In an editorial published by the state-run KCNA news agency titled “Commentary on the reckless actions of war maniacs,” the regime listed the major spring exercises that began on March 20 with the Freedom shield command post maneuvers, ” who simulated an open war against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea’s official name) for 11 days,” said Efe.

The text also mentions the field exercises that are still going on, including the Ssangyong amphibious landing exercise, which concludes tomorrow.

Pyongyang denounces that in this period a joint tactical drill has been carried out to “occupy a city” from North Korea and affirmed that the exercises, which have included the deployment of South Korean F-35 fighters or B-52 bombers and a propulsion aircraft carrier by the US, constitute “a mock aggressive war to occupy the territory of the DPRK through a preemptive strike”.

“The US and South Korean puppets are openly advocating ‘occupation of Pyongyang’ and ‘deheading operation,’ which they used to do behind closed doors,” which the editorial said “shows their appalling hostility” toward North Korea.

The text accuses Seoul and Washington of lying when describing these exercises as “routine” and “of a defensive nature” and also denounced the allies’ plans to carry out in June the “largest combined exercise with live fire” to date to the celebrate the 70th anniversary of their military alliance.

Pyongyang insists in the text that its threats to respond with nuclear weapons are not “empty words”.

“It will become quite clear how the DPRK’s nuclear weapons will be used if deterrence does not work with those who act madly, showing no fear of this weaponry,” the editorial concludes.

Since the start of the spring exercises, Pyongyang has carried out almost a dozen weapons tests, including that of a nuclear submarine drone that is supposedly capable of generating radioactive tsunamis, and last week it showed Kim Jong-un inspecting atomic warheads for the first time. for tactical weaponry.

It was the first time that the regime publicly displayed these types of weapons, a message that emphasizes that it is committed to strengthening its short-range nuclear arsenal for possible use on the Korean peninsula and its surroundings.

With information from Efe.