South Korea and the United States would face much higher security threats if scheduled joint military drills begin this week, said Kim Yo Jong, a powerful North Korean official and sister of leader Kim Jong Un. Despite North Korea's warning that the military exercises will stifle indications of an inter-Korean thaw, South Korea and the US will conduct preparatory military drills.

The Crisis Management Staff Training drills will go through Friday before moving on to full-scale exercises slated for August 16-26, according to Yonhap, which cited anonymous military and government sources. Kim Yo Jong said in a statement that the exercises are an "unwelcome, self-destructive action" that threatens the North Korean people and escalates tensions on the Korean peninsula, Reuters reported.

Kim Yo Jong warned South Korea

South Korea and the United States hold military exercises regularly, primarily in the spring and summer; but North Korea has responded vehemently for decades, accusing the drills of being a war rehearsal. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the exercises will mostly consist of computer simulations, with no actual field training involving US-based troops.

Last week, Kim Yo Jong, a top official in the governing Workers' Party, warned the South that the drills would jeopardize attempts to repair ties, as per Strait Times. Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are trying to heal strained ties and restart summits, and the two Koreas just reconnected hotlines that Pyongyang cut a year ago.

Following the North's threat, several Seoul officials and members of Moon's governing party have called for the drills to be postponed to speed up inter-Korean reconciliation. The drills, however, cannot be postponed, according to governing party head Song Young-Gil, who stated last Thursday that they are routinely done for defense purposes and that preparations are "nearly complete."

In recent years, the drills have been cut back to allow for discussions aimed at eliminating Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs in exchange for US sanctions relief. However, after a failed second summit between Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald Trump in 2019, the negotiations collapsed.

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US-South Korea's military exercises

Per Korea Times, Seoul is taking an unclear stance toward Pyongyang in light of forthcoming joint military exercises with the US, discussing with Washington on humanitarian supplies to Pyongyang.

This is seen as the Moon Jae In administration's compromise strategy to show its openness to talking to Pyongyang while avoiding public accusations that it is allowing the North to take the lead in the inter-Korean tug-of-war over summer military drills. Foreign Affairs Minister Chung Eui-Yong spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, and the two discussed ways to "cooperate with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is North Korea (DPRK) in areas such as humanitarian cooperation," according to his ministry.

The two sides "agreed to investigate humanitarian efforts on the Korean Peninsula," according to the US State Department. Following the agreement, South Korea and the US are expected to confer on a list of humanitarian supplies, including foods, vaccinations, medicines, and medical devices.

The Ministry of Unification has approved private organizations to provide humanitarian aid to the North from July 30. North Korea is now dealing with a food crisis, natural catastrophes, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), North Korea will face a food shortfall of roughly 860,000 tons of grain this year, which is equivalent to around 2.3 months worth of food consumption. Adding to the worries, the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper claimed last week that the government is taking "immediate measures" to avert flood damage after heavy rains flooded more than 1,170 houses in the eastern coastline of South Hamgyong Province.

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