North Korea ridicules South as ‘puppet army’ of US over canceled military drills

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, harshly criticized South Korea on Thursday, labeling it as a "puppet army" of the United States following the abrupt cancellation of US-South Korea military drills. In a statement on the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim expressed her dismay, stating that South Korea's forced cancellation of the drills demonstrated its subservience to the US.

She noted that the sudden reduction of the drills' scale, ordered by US President Donald Trump, prevented South Korean troops from protesting the decision due to a lack of coordination. Kim condemned South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung for his attempts to please the US, pointing to his contradictory remarks about "independent national defense" and the need to bolster military capabilities.

She accused Lee of revealing the "uneasiness and impatience of the ROK." Kim further stated that the entire world witnessed the "true situation" of South Korea, which boasts about its self-defense capabilities while relying on external assistance. She argued that the reduction of joint military drills has placed South Korea's security at risk, calling it a "disaster" resulting from the "unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook" of the South Korean authorities.