North Korea warns of stronger response to US-led drills

North Korea's Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong-un, has blamed US-led military drills for "ever-worsening" tensions on the Korean Peninsula and vowed no change in the country's course to strengthen its nuclear arsenal.

In a statement carried on Friday by state media KCNA, Kim referred to the Pacific Vanguard 2026 naval exercise near Guam, calling it another threatening US-led "war game" and part of Washington's efforts to expand military influence in the Asia-Pacific region through co-operation with allies including South Korea and Japan.

She said the current situation highlighted the need for North Korea to take responsive measures "proportional or more offensive in its nature" and warned that the country's armed forces would "mobilise all means available" if its security or national interests were violated.

On Thursday, she rejected renewed calls for North Korea's denuclearisation at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference and reiterated Pyongyang's position that its status as a nuclear weapons state is irreversible.

Pacific Vanguard 2026, a multilateral exercise led by the US Navy and involving the navies of South Korea, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan in the vicinity of Guam, ran from August 29 to September 10, according to Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force.