North Korea has slammed the upcoming Iron Mace exercise, an integrated nuclear and conventional tabletop drill (CNI TTX) scheduled for Monday to Friday, calling it a continuation of the outdated trilateral military cooperation among the U.S., South Korea, and Japan.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling party, published a commentary on September 13 from the Korean Central News Agency. The article, titled, Any Disruption to the Balance of Power on the Korean Peninsula and in the Region Will Not Be Tolerated, accused the U.S. of orchestrating a comprehensive nuclear operational drill. It claimed that, under the pretext of responding to potential nuclear threats, the U.S. is dragging South Korea into the Iron Mace exercise for the third time, following similar drills in August 2022 and April 2023.
The newspaper described Freedom Edge and Iron Mace as dangerous nuclear exercises conceived by the leaders of the three nations, rooted in the 2023 Camp David summit and last year’s nuclear operational guidelines.
Despite leadership changes, the article argued that the outdated policy of trilateral military cooperation persists. It further alleged that military collusion among the U.S., Japan, and South Korea has intensified, focusing on potential nuclear first strikes and setting records as the largest and most historic in scale.
The commentary also highlighted other joint military activities, including the Freedom Edge multi-domain training conducted alongside Iron Mace, and the ongoing U.S.-Japan Resolute Dragon exercise that began on September 11. It specifically pointed to the upcoming U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group meeting in October as evidence that the risk of nuclear conflict is expanding beyond the Korean Peninsula.
The newspaper emphasized that the current geopolitical climate necessitates a strengthened nuclear deterrence posture for North Korea. It asserted the need to neutralize what it termed as aggressive military activities by the U.S., Japan, and South Korea through absolute military superiority.
While criticizing the Iron Mace exercise, which is the first to be held under the Lee Jae-myung administration, the newspaper notably refrained from directly naming Lee or former U.S. President Donald Trump.