North Korea has sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for its “vicious” military stance and what it describes as a dangerous departure from previous U.S. policy. State-run media labeled the recent U.S.-South Korea military drills a provocation that risks pushing the Korean Peninsula toward war.
The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, involved more than 12,500 South Korean troops and over 1,000 air sorties. While Washington and Seoul insist the joint drills are defensive in nature—covering land, sea, air, and cyber operations—Pyongyang has denounced the maneuvers as preparation for an invasion.
“The exercise cannot be seen as a simple follow-up or repetition,” said a statement from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), calling it a more aggressive extension of previous military activities. The warning follows multiple missile tests by North Korea this year, including a launch on March 10 that coincided with the start of Freedom Shield.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, recently escalated rhetoric, accusing the Trump administration of continuing what she called a “hostile policy” inherited from former President Joe Biden. In a March 2 statement, she warned that the U.S. posture would justify North Korea “indefinitely bolstering its nuclear war deterrent.”
Although President Trump has yet to publicly clarify his second-term policy toward North Korea, he defended his prior diplomatic efforts during a March 13 press conference with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. “I had a great relationship with Kim,” Trump said. “We stopped a nuclear war.”
Trump and Kim Jong Un met three times during his first term, including historic summits in Singapore and Hanoi, and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone in 2019. Despite these encounters, negotiations stalled with no concrete disarmament achieved.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated America’s commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea during a February meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. While emphasizing continued pressure, Rubio signaled openness to dialogue—an approach similar to that of previous administrations.
Despite the diplomatic overtures, North Korea has carried out at least three days of ballistic missile tests so far in 2025, a clear signal that tensions remain high.
With Ulchi Freedom Shield, another major joint military drill, expected this August, the Korean Peninsula appears set for another cycle of provocations, rhetoric, and uncertainty.
