North Korea's state news agency KCNA said in a commentary on the 19th that the
U.S.-South Korea Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercises constitute a direct threat
to Pyongyang and the regional security environment, pushing the Korean Peninsula
again to a critical point close to war. KCNA said the exercises are becoming
progressively more dangerous—escalating in content, form, scale and training
methods—to increase wartime realism, secure an advantage in the peninsula and
the region, and that South Korea is being turned into a staging ground and
rehearsal site for multinational invasion forces.
