North Korea denounces Freedom Shield exercise, remains quiet on own missile launches
Published: 11 Mar. 2025, 17:01
Updated: 11 Mar. 2025, 17:32
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- SEO JI-EUN
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![South Korean and U.S. troops disembark from a Surion military transport helicopter to head to a target area at a training ground in the South Korean border city of Paju on March 11, as part of an airborne infiltration drill. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/03/11/fc0fe1f4-f7ea-4550-9791-eaa170cd69db.jpg)
South Korean and U.S. troops disembark from a Surion military transport helicopter to head to a target area at a training ground in the South Korean border city of Paju on March 11, as part of an airborne infiltration drill. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
North Korea on Tuesday renewed its criticism of the ongoing South Korea-U.S. Freedom Shield joint military drills, labeling them an “incursive and confrontational war rehearsal.”
However, despite launching ballistic missiles into the Yellow Sea the previous day, Pyongyang remained silent on the test in both its state media meant for domestic and international viewers.
The state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), in a commentary, accused Seoul and Washington of “ultimately” carrying out the Freedom Shield despite “repeated warnings” from the North.
Highlighting the scale of the drills as the “largest-ever” joint military exercise, the agency further claimed the exercise “exposes to the world who is truly responsible for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”
In a separate article in its official Rodong Sinmun, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea official news publication, the newspaper described the military drills conducted South Korea as a “theater of operations,” mobilizing the latest nuclear war equipment, a vast invasion force and even civilians.
It added that “an aggressive nuclear war rehearsal targeting our republic.”
However, North Korean media made no reference to the country’s ballistic missile launch the previous day.
The South Korean military announced they detected multiple unidentified ballistic missiles launched from the North's Hwanghae Province toward the Yellow Sea at approximately 1:50 p.m. on Monday — which coincided with the start of the annual Freedom Shield exercise.
These missiles were assessed to be close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs).
The launch marked North Korea’s first ballistic missile launch since Jan. 14 and the first since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second administration.
![Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air guided interceptors are deployed at U.S. Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on March 10. North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea, South Korea's military said, as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills, marking the North's first known ballistic missile test since U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/03/11/8f5d249c-218f-4098-ab05-1348968b69b3.jpg)
Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air guided interceptors are deployed at U.S. Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on March 10. North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea, South Korea's military said, as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills, marking the North's first known ballistic missile test since U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House. [NEWS1]
“North Korea conducts its winter military training from December to March,” a senior official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry told reporters on Tuesday. “We are not ruling out the possibility that the missile launch was part of this training.”
However, the official also acknowledged that even routine training exercises can be a response to South Korea-U.S. military activities.
Experts believe North Korea is gradually escalating its actions rather than engaging in an immediate high-profile provocation.
“A low-level statement from the Foreign Ministry on the eve of the drills, a close-range ballistic missile launch on the first day and a measured KCNA commentary on the second day suggest that North Korea is adjusting its response in a phased manner,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Although Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had previously warned of “increasing actions that threaten the security of the enemy at the strategic level,” Pyongyang has so far limited its provocations to short-range ballistic missile tests and cruise missile launches, avoiding larger escalations such as intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches or nuclear tests.
With Freedom Shield running until March 20, analysts suggest that North Korea may delay its official statement on the missile launch until the exercise concludes, consolidating all its responses into a single state media report.
This is nothing new.
North Korea conducted seven rounds of ballistic missile tests between Sept. 25 and Oct. 9, 2022, in response to regular South Korea-U.S. military drills, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. However, rather than reporting each launch individually, North Korea waited until the exercises ended and then released a comprehensive state media article on Oct. 10, portraying the launches as part of Kim Jong-un’s guidance of tactical nuclear operation forces.
A source familiar with the matter suggested that North Korea may have chosen not to publicize the missile launch because it lacked propaganda value.
“North Korea announces missile tests when they serve a specific purpose — whether to showcase new weapon capabilities, boost domestic morale or send a diplomatic message,” the source said. “This time, Pyongyang may have determined that publicly acknowledging the launch was unnecessary.”
BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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