Kim Yo Jong, sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has charged this Friday against the United States for the conduct of the multinational naval exercise "Pacific Vanguard 2026" and has warned that Pyongyang will continue to increase its military power, including nuclear deterrence, against what she has described as "war game" maneuvers driven by Washington.
The leader has accused the White House of fostering an escalation of military activity in the Asia-Pacific region with the aim of altering the strategic balance, and has emphasized that the North Korean Armed Forces are prepared to use all resources at their disposal if they consider that their key interests or security are "seriously threatened," according to a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
In her analysis, the repetition of military maneuvers of different scopes responds to the will of the United States to maintain its supremacy against the major powers in the area.
Kim's words come after the conclusion last week of "Pacific Vanguard 2026," a thirteen-day multinational naval exercise in waters near Guam in which Washington's allies, including South Korea and Japan, participated.
According to her denunciation, for more than ten days, training focused on anti-ship warfare, air defense, and submarine operations was carried out.
"During the war drill, various naval exercises focused on anti-ship, air defense, and anti-submarine warfare were intensively carried out for more than ten days, with the aim of protecting the United States," pointed out the sister of the North Korean leader, who has described the maneuvers as "another threatening 'war game,' devised by the United States to provoke confrontations between factions in the region."
Kim has also linked these drills to Washington's strategy to maintain its political and military weight in the Asia-Pacific through a network of alliances. "This is part of the political and military plan of the United States to prolong its hegemony, relying on the military strength of the exclusive bloc in the Asia-Pacific region, where there are many major powers considered its main rivals," she has stated.
The North Korean official has not only questioned the increase of countries joining "Pacific Vanguard," but has also extended her reproaches to the entirety of the U.S. military presence in the area.
In his opinion, the arguments put forward by Washington to legitimize these maneuvers also reveal their strategic objectives. In the text, he cites formulations such as "reinforce joint response capabilities against maritime threats" and "test combined operational capabilities in a complex air operations environment."
Trilateral cooperation and response warnings
The participation of South Korea and Japan in these exercises occupies a central place in his criticisms. Kim interprets the presence of both countries as a sign of the strengthening of trilateral military cooperation between Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul, an architecture that, according to his reading, has North Korea as its main target.
"It is inevitable that the greatest threat posed by external agents to our national security will cause our physical power to grow incessantly in a proportional manner," he has stated, emphasizing that Pyongyang will respond to what it perceives as an increase in hostility with measures of equal or greater scale.
In this line, he has indicated that the military actions of his rivals push North Korea to constantly elevate its defensive capabilities. "We need to break records in our response action, proportional or more offensive in nature," he has declared.
Kim has presented external military pressure as an argument to sustain and expand North Korea's defense policy, claiming that the episodes of instability arising from the activity of other countries only confirm, in his view, the need to permanently modernize its military means.
In this context, he has even claimed that North Korea's adversaries provide an "excellent 'aid'" by generating the conditions that, according to his proposal, legitimize that reinforcement.
No changes in the nuclear roadmap
One of Kim's sharpest warnings refers to the North Korean nuclear program.
He has assured that the country will not alter the course of its defense strategy and that it will continue to strengthen its deterrent instruments in the face of a possible atomic conflict. "Our will to defend our sovereignty will be expressed in clearer actions, and there will never be any change in the course we take to intensify nuclear war deterrence," he stated.
In the same line, the leader has issued a warning about a possible military response. According to the KCNA statement, if Pyongyang concludes that foreign maneuvers severely harm the fundamental interests of the State, its military sovereignty, or regional security conditions, the North Korean Armed Forces will act in accordance with what is provided in the Constitution.
"The Armed Forces of North Korea will invoke the relevant provisions, in compliance with their constitutional obligations, and will mobilize all means at their disposal to confront it," she clarified.
This is the second public statement from Kim Yo Jong in just two days. In her previous intervention, she rejected international calls for the denuclearization of North Korea made during the 70th regular session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is being held in Vienna, Austria.
With this new pronouncement, Kim again places joint military exercises and North Korea's nuclear policy at the core of Pyongyang's response to the military activity of the United States and its partners in the Asia-Pacific.