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

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.