North Korea has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s decision to sharply reduce military exercises with South Korea, saying the move does not change the drills’ “provocative, aggressive nature”.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued Pyongyang’s first response to the changes on Wednesday.
“We think it’s not worth making comments on that and we have no any interest in it,” she said in a statement carried by North Korean state media.
“The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”
Her comments came after the US and South Korean militaries confirmed they were significantly scaling back their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises.
Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the drills shortly before they began on Monday, citing his relationship with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to support Washington over Iran.
The exercises will now end on Friday instead of August 27, South Korea’s military said, adding some joint field exercises will also be reduced.
The Pentagon said some events had been cancelled or converted into simulations but insisted the changes would not undermine military preparedness.
“These adjustments preserve essential readiness and training objectives. There will be no degradation to U.S. training objectives,” the Pentagon said.
