Washington:
 US President Donald Trump on Saturday (native time) shared a throwback {photograph} with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, joking about their “unfriendly look” whereas reaffirming that the 2 get alongside properly.
“Regardless of the unfriendly look on this explicit image, there are a lot of the place we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get alongside GREAT!” Trump stated in a put up on Reality Social.
Trump’s remarks got here in opposition to the backdrop of North Korea’s criticism of the upcoming US-South Korea army workout routines, saying the drills would heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Al Jazeera reported.
The joint army drills, named “Ulchi Freedom Defend”, are scheduled to start on August 17 and proceed till August 27. The workout routines will embody coaching to counter drones, GPS disruption and cyberattacks because the US and its allies search to adapt to North Korea’s evolving army capabilities.
North Korea has routinely criticised US-South Korea army workout routines, describing them as provocations.
Spokesperson for North Korea’s International Ministry on Friday stated US-Japan-South Korea army cooperation was creating right into a “nuclear alliance”, Al Jazeera reported, citing Pyongyang’s Korean Central Information Company (KCNA).
“The US-Japan-South Korea army cooperation is popping right into a nuclear alliance, and North Korea will reply to a brand new degree of menace with a brand new degree of deterrent,” the spokesperson stated
The spokesperson additional stated the upcoming workout routines had been completely different from these carried out over the previous 5 years and had been supposed to enhance the flexibility to conduct warfare primarily based on “new features of recent warfare”.
“It’s our constant precept of making certain safety to reply to a brand new degree of a menace with a brand new degree of a deterrent,” the assertion printed by KCNA added.
In the meantime, on August 12, North Korea carried out a suspected ballistic missile launch on Wednesday, making it the second in lower than per week,
Whereas Yonhap Information Company, citing the South Korean army, reported that Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile towards the East Sea on Wednesday, america solely referred to it as a “missile launch” because the US Pacific Command issued an announcement shortly after the launch.
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