On Tuesday, North Korea condemned the recent trilateral naval exercises conducted by South Korea, the United States, and Japan near Jeju Island, warning that any provocation or threat from hostile forces would be met with an overwhelming and decisive response.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party, released a commentary via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) entitled “In the Security Domain of Our Country, America’s Might-Is-Right Doctrine Does Not Apply.” The piece criticized the naval drills carried out by the South Korean Navy, U.S. Navy, and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force from March 17 to 20 in international waters south of Jeju, claiming the exercise further heightened severe political and military tension in the region.
The commentary argued that U.S.-led multinational military exercises have historically seriously threatened regional and global security. It emphasized that this year’s first trilateral maritime exercise, coinciding with the first joint drill since the Trump administration took office alongside ongoing large-scale U.S.-South Korea military exercises, significantly amplifies the inherent risks.
It continued, “This cannot be dismissed as a mere continuation or repetition of the North Korea-hostile policies pursued by previous U.S. administrations.” The piece harshly criticized the second Trump administration, asserting, “Even as the current U.S. administration has overturned the policies and executive orders of previous administrations like flipping cards, it has obsessively inherited only the North Korea-hostile policy, mutating it into an even more vicious form to expand its multifaceted war gambit on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.”
The commentary hinted at a potential strategic choice in response, declaring North Korea’s efforts to safeguard national security and regional peace would intensify. It reiterated the warning that any provocation or threat from hostile nations would be met with an overwhelming and decisive response.
This trilateral maritime exercise, the first of its kind this year, involved seven vessels: two South Korean Aegis destroyers, including the ROKS Sejong the Great; four ships from the U.S. Navy’s Carrier Strike Group One, including the USS Carl Vinson; and one destroyer from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.