North Korea warns of ‘terrible consequences’ from S. Korea-U.S. drills

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister warned Tuesday that annual South Korea–US military drills could bring “terrible consequences,” weeks after Pyongyang dashed hopes for a diplomatic thaw with Seoul.

Seoul and Washington launched their springtime “Freedom Shield” exercises Monday, involving about 18,000 South Korean troops and running through 19 March. The number of US forces participating remains unclear.

The nuclear-armed North, which attacked its neighbor in 1950 triggering the Korean War, has long described the exercises as rehearsals for invasion.

Kim Yo Jong, recently promoted to head the North Korean ruling party’s general affairs department, said the drills “may cause unimaginably terrible consequences,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Analysts liken her role to a party secretary-general.

Her comments followed her brother’s description of Seoul’s latest peace efforts as a “clumsy deceptive farce,” declaring that North Korea has “absolutely no business dealing with South Korea.”

Kim Yo Jong said the exercises come at “a critical time when global security structure is collapsing rapidly and wars break out in different parts of the world,” blaming “the reckless acts of the outrageous international rogues.”

Pyongyang has condemned the ongoing US and Israeli attack on Iran as an “illegal act of aggression,” portraying it as evidence of Washington’s “rogue” behavior.

Although North Korea and the US are longtime adversaries, Washington has sought to revive high-level talks in recent months. Analysts suggest the Biden administration is considering a potential summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un, after largely ignoring US overtures, said last month the two countries could “get along” if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status.