SEOUL (Dispatches) - A senior North Korean official has slammed recent U.S.-South Korea joint military drills integrating Washington’s nuclear capabilities with Seoul’s conventional forces, vowing to speed up Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons buildup as an “immutable” national defense policy.
Kim Jong-sik, the first vice director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Monday that Washington and Seoul are conducting a nuclear war rehearsal targeting Pyongyang.
The statement, titled Our Defense Policy to Accelerate the Strengthening of Nuclear Deterrence Will Never Change in the Slightest, specifically targeted Iron Mace, a bilateral exercise held behind closed doors from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, which focuses on coordinating U.S. nuclear capabilities with South Korea’s conventional military assets.
Kim described the exercises as “the most hideous nuclear war rehearsal aimed at using nuclear weapons against the DPRK,” using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The senior North Korean official said the annual drills were proof of Washington’s continued animosity toward Pyongyang, justifying the military’s need to build up its nuclear arsenal.
“The reality teaches once again the underlying truth that strength is peace and peace is guaranteed only by strength,” Kim said.
He stressed that Pyongyang would continue strengthening its nuclear deterrent at an accelerated pace to counter both existing and potential threats, calling the policy irreversible.
“Immutable is the DPRK’s national defense policy to strengthen the nuclear war deterrent of the country with increasing speed,” he said.
Iron Mace has been held annually since 2024 as part of efforts to implement the joint guidelines established under the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group, a bilateral mechanism designed to strengthen extended deterrence against North Korean nuclear threats