Trump spoke of his good relationship with Kim Jong Un amid criticism of the military exercises
U.S. President Donald Trump posted an old photo with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Truth Social on Saturday and said they get along well. Trump noted that they look unfriendly in this photo, but there are many other photos in which they are smiling.
The post came amid criticism from Pyongyang of the planned U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield. The exercises are set to begin on August 17 and run through August 27. They include training to counter drones, GPS jamming, and cyberattacks.
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North Korea regularly calls the U.S.-South Korea exercises a provocation. A spokesperson for the DPRK’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement distributed by the state-run KCNA news agency and cited by Al Jazeera, said that military cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea is turning into a nuclear alliance. According to him, North Korea will respond to this new level of threat with a new level of deterrence.
The spokesperson also described the upcoming exercises as different from those of the past five years and stated that they are intended to enhance the ability to wage war, taking into account new aspects of modern combat operations. On August 12, North Korea conducted a suspected ballistic missile launch—its second in less than a week. According to Yonhap, citing South Korean military sources, the missile was launched toward the East Sea, while U.S. Pacific Command described it as a missile launch.
