Kim Yo Jong warns of offensive response to U.S. drills — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Kim Yo Jong on September 18 blamed U.S.-led military drills for "ever-worsening" tensions on the Korean Peninsula and vowed no change in North Korea's course to strengthen its nuclear arsenal.
- Pacific Vanguard 2026 — a U.S. Navy-led multilateral naval exercise near Guam involving South Korea, Japan, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand — ran from August 29 to September 10, 2026, per Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force.
- Kim Yo Jong warned North Korea's armed forces would "mobilize all means available" and take responsive measures "proportional or more offensive in its nature" if its security or national interests were violated.
- Kim Yo Jong on September 17 rejected renewed denuclearisation calls at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference, reiterating that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state is irreversible.
- Kim Yo Jong framed the drills as part of Washington's effort to expand military influence in the Asia-Pacific region through cooperation with allies including South Korea and Japan.
Why it matters: Two statements in 48 hours — rejecting IAEA denuclearization demands and threatening "proportional or more offensive" countermeasures to the five-nation Pacific Vanguard exercise — leave Pyongyang on a stated escalation track. South Korea, Japan and the three other named allied navies now face a nuclear-armed state whose spokesperson has reaffirmed irreversible weapons status.
Ask SkimNews
