Kim's Sister: Seoul's Exercises are Unjustified Provocations

The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described the recent military exercises conducted by South Korea near the border as a blatant and unjustified provocation. She accused the South Korean president of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula to distract public attention from his poor domestic policy performance. She referenced an online petition for President Yoon's dismissal that had gathered over a million signatures. Kim warned that if North Korea deemed its sovereignty violated, its armed forces would carry out their mission and duty immediately according to its constitution. The South Korean army resumed live-fire artillery exercises near the western maritime border in late June for the first time since 2018. Last month, South Korea announced it would suspend the military agreement signed with North Korea in 2018 aimed at easing tensions, in protest against North Korea's release of balloons filled with garbage towards the south.