Overview
- Kim Yo Jong and other senior DPRK officials said on Sept. 17–18 that North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state is absolute and legally irreversible and vowed to intensify its nuclear deterrent in response to U.S.-led drills.
- The North singled out recent multinational exercises such as Pacific Vanguard and Freedom Edge as provocative 'war games' and warned of responses that could be 'proportional or more offensive' if it judges its sovereignty threatened.
- Pyongyang formally rejected an IAEA resolution adopted at the agency’s Vienna conference, accusing the watchdog of double standards and saying the move justifies maintaining the credibility of its nuclear forces.
- South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Seoul will not send troops to the Iran conflict or the Strait of Hormuz but is reviewing limited measures to protect ships and nationals and is coordinating preliminarily to help possible U.S.–North Korea talks.
- The statements deepen tensions created by earlier U.S. decisions to scale back joint U.S.-ROK drills and complicate diplomacy because President Trump has signalled he wants talks with Kim Jong Un while Washington and Seoul balance alliance pressures and domestic politics.