North Korea Issues "Security Crisis" Warning for Second Day... Government Repeats "Closely Monitoring" Amid Silence

[Asia Economy reporters Inho Yoo, Jungmin Ryu, and military specialist Nakgyu Yang] North Korea has unleashed intense criticism for the second consecutive day against the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises.

On the 11th, North Korea did not respond to calls on the inter-Korean communication line, continuing the silence from the previous day. However, the government has refrained from any official response and remains silent.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Despite criticisms of "being overly cautious about North Korea," the scale of the joint exercises was significantly reduced, but North Korea reacted strongly, putting the South Korean government in a kind of "self-defeating" situation.

There are concerns that in order to facilitate an inter-Korean summit, excessive deference is being shown to Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party, and Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director.

It was confirmed that North Korea did not respond to the regular calls via the joint liaison office channel and military communication line at 9 a.m. that day.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Yong-chol, head of the Workers' Party United Front Department, warned in a statement to the Korean Central News Agency, "The South Korean authorities have begun to display madness by ignoring opportunities for peace and conducting war exercises again," adding, "They will make you feel moment by moment that you are approaching an enormous security crisis."

This marks the second day of fierce attacks following Kim Yo-jong's similar statement the previous morning, in which she said, "It will make you face an even more serious security threat," and expressed "strong regret over the treacherous actions of South Korean authorities."

On the 10th, South Korea and the U.S. began the Crisis Management Staff Training (CMST), a preliminary exercise, and plan to start the main exercise on the 16th.

Although North Korea has hinted at possible provocations and is escalating the security crisis, security authorities including the Blue House, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Unification, and Ministry of National Defense have not issued any official response.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Only unofficial statements repeating that they are "closely monitoring" the situation have been issued by officials.

The Blue House is responding to North Korea's moves in a "low-key" mode. It is known that the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by National Security Advisor Suh Hoon, has no plans to convene until that morning.

A Blue House official said, "At this point, we have no preconceived notions and will closely monitor North Korea's attitude without change."

On the other hand, the response to North Korea's backlash came not from South Korea but from the United States.

On the 10th (local time), Ned Price, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said in a briefing regarding Kim Yo-jong's critical statement, "The United States does not harbor hostile intentions toward North Korea and has maintained this stance for a long time."

He added, "I want to reiterate that the joint exercises are purely defensive in nature," emphasizing, "The U.S. does not have hostile intentions toward North Korea." While not responding with a "tit-for-tat" approach, the U.S. made clear that North Korea has no justification for provocations.

Meanwhile, if South Korea and the U.S. take no separate measures related to the joint exercises during the remaining five days until the main exercise on the 16th, the possibility of North Korea engaging in military provocations is considered significant.

There is a likelihood that after firing short-range missiles, North Korea may proceed to launch a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Experts believe that North Korea is likely to first fire a set of three new weapons: the new tactical guided missile (tactical guided weapon, North Korean version of Iskander), the super-large multiple rocket launcher, and the North Korean version of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System).

There is also a possibility that North Korea will conduct a launch test of the new SLBM revealed at last year's and this year's military parades or expose related preparations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.