North Korea clears unspecified ‘war deterrent’ on US-South military drills eve

Seoul, Mar 12 (EFE).- North Korea has approved “important” and “practical” war deterrence measures as the United States and South Korea readied to begin large-scale joint military exercises from Monday.

The official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday that Kim Jong-un chaired the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).

“The meeting discussed and adopted the important practical steps for making more effective, powerful, and offensive use of the war deterrent,” the news agency said.

KCNA said the move would help the country cope “with the present situation in which the war provocations of the US and South Korea are reaching the red-line.”

The news agency did not specify the practical measures adopted in the meeting of the ruling party’s defense committee.

The meeting of the North Korean military panel took place a day before the US and South Korea begin their joint large-scale military exercise, Freedom Shield, on Monday.

The series of exercises will last until Mar.23.

Pyongyang usually considers these exercises as a preparation to invade North Korea.

Last month, the Kim Jong-un regime warned the US and South Korea of an “unprecedentedly” strong reaction if they went ahead with the planned joint drills.

The allies carried out military exercises of this magnitude in November.

In response, North Korea fired more than 30 missiles of different types – one of them with an intercontinental range – in just three days.

The peninsula is experiencing historic levels of tension after North Korea carried out a record number of weapons tests and the US deployed strategic assets in the region. EFE

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