The North Korean Ministry on August 6 issued a “spokesperson’s press statement” and launched missiles in response to the U.S.-ROK joint military drills that began just the day before. It criticized both the U.S. and South Korea and called the drills a “blatant disregard of and open violation” of the DPRK-U.S. Singapore joint statement and the two inter-Korean accords signed in 2018.

By denouncing both the U.S. and South Korea, this pronouncement deviated from the norm in recent months of singling out South Korea for a joint ROK-U.S. military activity.