North Korea has threatened to respond to the United States-led military drills with South Korea. The North Korean dictatorship vowed to take “all necessary measures” to defend itself, while also claiming that the joint aerial drills are in preparation for a nuclear strike on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

A statement from a foreign ministry official cited in KCNA describes “an aggression-type war exercise with the basic purpose of hitting strategic targets of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” which presents the risk of “serious confrontation with great powers.”

“Nowhere in the world can we find a military exercise with an aggressive character like the joint military exercise held by the United States and its followers in terms of duration, scale, content, and density,” the foreign ministry official continued. “The US nuclear war script against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has entered the final stage,” the official claimed, as cited in Russian media.

The ministry then warned that “if the US continuously persists in the grave military provocations, the DPRK will take into account more powerful follow-up measures.” Seoul and Washington have been warning since the summer that the north is undergoing preparations for a nuclear test, which would be the first since 2017, according to a report by ZeroHedge. 

#MarineCorps F-35 Lightning II aircraft from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 land at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, for Exercise Vigilant Storm 23, Oct. 31#VigilantStorm enhances combat readiness and strengthens the ROK-U.S. Alliance. #CombinedForce #USMC #military pic.twitter.com/5uIYQkeQoR

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) October 31, 2022

Last week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol briefed his parliament on what he described as imminent plans for such a first nuclear test in five years. “We assess that it has already completed preparations for a seventh nuclear test,” he said Tuesday. He reminded lawmakers that Kim Jong-un has already justified the preemptive use of nuclear weapons, making a test if carried through a severe threat to Seoul’s as well as the broader region’s security.  -ZeroHedge

War rhetoric has been consistently increasing whether it’s Russia and Ukraine or South Korea and North Korea. The United States continues to be heavily involved in all conflicts around the globe in its attempt to police the world. Sadly, rhetoric, military drills, and threats may be all it takes to ignite a hot war.