The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs says North Korea was restrained in its criticism of Seoul and Washington’s upcoming joint military exercise, adding that it was more an expression of Pyongyang’s position than a military threat.

At a press briefing Monday, unification ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said the statement from North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol against the allies’ Ulchi Freedom Shield training, set to begin next week, was delivered in a relatively restrained tone.

In the statement, released earlier in the day, No said North Korea strongly condemns Seoul and Washington’s provocative act and warned that the regime will exercise its sovereign right to defend itself from provocations that exceed certain limits.

But the official who issued the condemnation is more senior than those who spoke out in previous years. 

Last year the North’s foreign ministry’s U.S. research institute protested the joint exercise a day before it began, and in 2023 the Korean Central News Agency published a column two days after the drills began. 

The unification ministry spokesperson stressed that the combined exercise is an annual defensive training aimed at deterring warfare and protecting peace on the Korean Peninsula, adding that Seoul intends to continue efforts to realize peace.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson praised Pyongyang’s removal of some of its anti-South loudspeakers in response to Seoul’s earlier move, saying the government will continue to seek ways to ease tensions and create a peaceful atmosphere on the peninsula.