North Korea threatens self-defence over US-South Korea drills
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- North Korea's Foreign Ministry threatened on August 14, 2026 to exercise its right to self-defence, calling the upcoming U.S.-South Korea drills "a rehearsal for an aggressive war" of a "more serious provocative nature and dangerousness than last year."
- The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises are set to begin August 17, 2026, with the U.S. and South Korea describing the scope as similar to past years and insisting the training is defensive in nature.
- Neighbours detected two ballistic missile launches off North Korea's east coast in the past week, which outside experts assess were likely meant to protest the drills or upgrade weapons systems; North Korea has not commented on the launches.
- Kim Jong Un has ignored U.S. and South Korea's offers to resume diplomacy since his summitry with U.S. President Donald Trump broke down in 2019, focusing instead on bolstering his nuclear arsenal, with experts saying he aims to eventually win extensive U.S. sanctions relief.
- North Korea has been supplying troops and ammunition to Russia for its war against Ukraine in return for economic and military assistance, while Kim has pushed to deepen ties with China, North Korea's biggest trading partner.
Why it matters: Two days before the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills open and a week after two ballistic missile launches were detected off North Korea's coast, Pyongyang's threatened self-defence exercise reinforces the pattern of using allied drills as a pretext to expand its nuclear arsenal — keeping diplomacy frozen since Kim's 2019 Trump summit collapse and pushing him closer to Beijing and Moscow.
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