Pyongyang, August 26 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Bok, first vice-chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, issued the following press statement "Gangster-like Logic of Impudent 'War Apostle' Can Never Work" on August 25:

As being witnessed by the international community, the U.S.-led joint military drill Ulji Freedom Shield is now underway in the ROK which borders the DPRK, disturbing the regional security environment.

Against this backdrop, the U.S. accustomed to turning black into white revealed its impudence and shamelessness again, stunning the world public.

On August 24, the U.S. Forces Command in the ROK made absurd remarks that the drill is a "regular and defensive one without preemptive strike and offensive operation" and "it is not to prepare for aggression but to bolster up deterrence".

It is a generally-acknowledged fact that the large-scale war drill against a state can never be "defensive" one as it is being staged by the world's biggest nuclear weapons state and more than ten satellite states in the region of the Korean peninsula technically at war.

As proof of it, more than ten F-35 stealth fighters of the U.S. Air Force arrived at the U.S. military bases in the ROK on August 25 to participate in the drill.

The F-35 stealth fighters stationed in Japan as the core reinforcements to be sent to the ROK before everything in case of contingency on the Korean Peninsula are now engaged in intensive training day and night as soon as they landed on the U.S. military base in Kunsan. This fact makes it possible to realize well the purpose of the drill Ulji Freedom Shield.

And with the possibility of the permanent or routine deployment of F-35 stealth fighters in Kunsan or other U.S. military bases in the ROK becoming the topic of discussion due to their participation in the drill, all kinds of F-35 fighters including F-35A, F-35B and F-35 Lightning II are taking part in the drill, claiming that they are training the capability to carry out the combined operation with the ROK army. This is a new record in the history of the adventurous U.S.-ROK war drills.

In fact, the current joint military drill is the one for an actual war which makes its provocative nature more clear as it renewed the records of all the past rehearsals for anti-DPRK war in its nature, scale and mode.

The recent remarks of the commander of the U.S. forces in the ROK serve as a supporting evidence of it. Soon after Ulji Freedom Shield started, he said that the mode they train today would be a basis for the capability to fight tonight and the power to win tomorrow's victory, fanning up the war fever of the ROK military warmongers and before the drill, he said that the important thing is not the number but the capacity and the key point is to keep the capacity to do something on the Korean peninsula.

The rehearsal of the new combined operational plan for expanding attack into the territory of the DPRK after the preemptive strike at its nuclear facilities, etc is the most solid expression of their will to invade the DPRK.

The current drill has changed its shape into a multi-national military one as even the expedition of the U.S. Marine Corps from the outside of the region and troops of members of the UN Command are taking part in it together with the U.S. forces in the ROK and the ROK army, the mainstay of it. And it has turned into the biggest, the longest and the worst war drill in the world as well as the Asia-Pacific region as it reached the highest record in number and period of field maneuvering drill. However, the U.S. side strongly insists that Ulji Freedom Shield is a "defensive one" from A to Z.

In particular, the training for preemptive nuclear strike at the DPRK is a must in the U.S.-ROK military drills which have been a custom from long time ago. This more clearly indicates who is the arch criminal threatening humankind with nukes and the main culprit disturbing peace.

The threatening nature of Ulji Freedom Shield is clearly proved by the U.S. intention to occupy the Korean peninsula and direct the arrow of attack against its enemy states in the region. Recently the U.S. military authorities said that the U.S. forces in the ROK do not focus on the Korean Peninsula only and the ROK is like an island or an anchored aircraft carrier between Japan and the mainland of China, talking about the so-called strategic flexibility of the U.S. forces in the ROK.

The typical Yankee-style arrogance and impudence of the "war apostle" aimed to mislead the reality and turn black into white with the third-rate wordplay while infringing upon the security interests of a sovereign state and endangering the regional security environment can never work.

We are watching everything carefully and ready to cope with any situation.

The U.S. and the ROK sides would be well advised to bear in mind that if they continuously persist in the above-said military rehearsal, they will certainly face up the unpleasant situation and pay a dear price. -0-

www.kcna.kp (2025.08.26.)