According to a Chosun Central News Agency (KCNA) report, the High Command of the Korean People’s Army has ordered that the armed forces, the people and the nation be placed on high alert on the 17th, when Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), a U.S.-South Korea joint military drill, begins.
The High Command apparently ordered the Army to strike those who would commit hostile actions an immediate blow, and the people to get themselves ready for the confrontational status.
The High Command instructed the land, sea and air forces of the North Korean People’s Army, the Chosun People’s Border Garrison, the Worker and Peasant Red Guard and the Young Red Guard to mount a powerful attack against any invasion upon the sky, land or sea of North Korea.
The High Command emphasized that the moves represent a “fair self-defense counter-measure to protect the nation from rash anti-Republic invasion,” and added, “If South Korea and the U.S. conduct even tiny military provocations we will strike them with all our tools, including our nuclear deterrent.”
A spokesperson for the Panmunjom Mission of the North Korean Army released a statement on the 16th which denounced UFG in stinging terms, “The master and its puppet are trying to pressures us with a nuclear war drill, in a practical way. It is an aggressive war targeting the DPRK.”
Ulchi Freedom Guardian is a Command Post Exercise (CPX) led by the South Korean Army and supported by the U.S. Armed Forces, in which 56,000 members of the South Korean Army and roughly 10,000 members of the U.S. Forces stationed in South Korea and other countries traditionally take part.
