Tensions Surge as North Korea Condemns South Korea's Live-Fire Drills

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called South Korea's front-line live-fire drills 'suicidal hysteria' and threatened military steps if further provoked. This comes after South Korea resumed military exercises, suspending a 2018 agreement. The tensions are exacerbated by failed North Korean missile tests and cross-border provocations.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has branded South Korea's recent front-line live-fire drills as 'suicidal hysteria' and warned of unspecified military actions if further provoked. Her stern warning followed South Korea's military exercises at its land and sea borders with North Korea over the past two weeks—the first such activities since South Korea halted a 2018 accord aimed at easing front-line tensions.

'The question is why the enemy initiated such war drills near the border, suicidal hysteria, for which they will have to sustain terrible disaster,' stated Kim Yo Jong via state media. She blamed South Korea's conservative administration for intentionally heightening tensions to divert attention from a domestic political crisis, adding that the drills' riskiness is evident amid a 'touch-and-go situation' prompted by recent military exercises involving the US, South Korea, and Japan, which North Korea perceives as security threats.

'If judged by our criteria that they violated North Korea's sovereignty and committed an act tantamount to a declaration of war, our armed forces will immediately execute their mission and duty as mandated by the North Korean Constitution,' she added without giving further details.

North Korea has embarked on a provocative spate of weapons tests since 2022, though recent tests of a missile with a 'super-large warhead' and a multi-warhead missile have been met with skepticism by South Korean officials, who suspect the tests were fabrications to cover up failures. South Korea fully suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military pact in early June after North Korea flew balloons carrying manure and litter across the border in protest against South Korean activists' political leaflets. The military agreement aimed at ceasing hostile acts at border areas was already tenuous, challenged by both Koreas amid the fallout from North Korea's spy satellite launch last November.

(With inputs from agencies.)