N. Korea media criticizes ongoing US-S. Korea drills after Trump comments

North Korea lambasted the ongoing U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise on Wednesday, following remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump. The exercise, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, is being shortened from 11 days to five days. State-run North Korean media, the Korean Central News Agency, did not directly address Trump's comments, which called the exercise "totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea.

The KCNA commentary emphasized that the drills are pushing tensions on the Korean peninsula to the brink of war and cannot be considered merely a routine military practice. Pyongyang vowed to continue its right to self-defense to neutralize any enemy military threat until North Korea abandons its attempt to break the regional balance of strength.

The U.S. president made these comments about the exercise in a social media post on Sunday, while the next day he reported to reporters that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had responded to his request for a dialogue. North Korea has consistently denounced the annual exercise as a rehearsal for invasion. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is pushing his aides to arrange in-person talks with Kim during his next Asia trip in November, possibly at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Shenzhen, China.