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A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea released the following press statement on August 13:

The US and the ROK announced that they would stage the large-scale joint military exercises Ulji Freedom Shield from August 17.

The exercises are expected to involve tens of thousands of troops and combat equipment, including forces of the US, the ROK and member states of the "UN Command", and field manoeuvres such as Warrior Shield and various drills for real war simulating the environments for the ultra-modern operations like drone, electronic and cyber warfare.

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. By doing so, it did not conceal their aim to complete preparations for the substantial military confrontation with the DPRK.

This is tantamount to an admission that the exercises, which the US and the ROK describe as "annual" and "defensive" ones, are in essence a rehearsal for an aggressive war.

Furthermore, the exercises are going to be staged again at a time when the military and political situation is becoming more serious with each passing day in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world and the US’ abuse of strength has become part of its daily routine. They are incurring the instability in the Korean peninsula and other regional countries, which is more serious than before.

The coordination of the US forces' offensive posture which has begun in earnest across the world, the expansion of strategic flexibility of the US forces in the ROK which is getting serious as part of it, the US-Japan-ROK tripartite military cooperation system which is turning into a nuclear alliance and the strengthening of the military muscle by Japan and the ROK more clearly show how dangerous the said exercises involving all the military assets and war-fighting modes of the US and the ROK are.

The enemy states' exercises for an aggressive war which have more serious provocative nature and dangerousness than last year are posing a grave threat to the security sphere of our state and security environment in the region.

The US can never succeed in its attempt to seize military hegemony again and restore the unilateral threatening structure, which have become an irreversible thing of the past in the Korean peninsula, by steadily replacing the old war scenario with a new one and holding rehearsals.

It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent.

The DPRK remains steadfast in its will to frustrate outsiders' hostile acts with the most powerful and overwhelming countermeasures and absolutely defend the supreme interests of state security.

The DPRK will not tolerate the grave confrontational situation which is being created by the enemy states but more clearly express its stance on the enemies to cope with any threats and challenges through the responsible and decisive exercise of the right to legitimate self-defence.