North Korea vows strong response to US arms sale to South Korea

North Korea on Wednesday condemned the United States' approval of a $300 million sale of advanced air-to-air missiles to South Korea, vowing a "strong response" and calling the transaction a direct threat to its national security. A North Korean foreign ministry official described the transfer as "war exports," according to the Organization for World Peace. The KCNA said the deal showed that peaceful coexistence with the South was no longer viable.

The drills included counter-drone, GPS disruption and cyberattack exercises, reflecting what U.S. Forces Korea commander Colonel Ryan Donald called lessons from North Korean deployments to Russia's war in Ukraine. "They've taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea," Donald told reporters. North Korea also accused the United States of lowering its threshold for nuclear weapons use, saying the allies were pushing the world "to the brink of nuclear war."

The condemnation came despite President Donald Trump's order on Sunday to "substantially reduce" U.S. participation in the drills. Trump cited his "very good relationship" with Kim Jong Un and said Kim had responded to his outreach. The KCNA commentary did not mention Trump or his actions, and it did not specify what measures North Korea would take.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that the exercises were defensive and that Seoul had no intention of attacking the North. South Korea has not publicly responded to that criticism. Washington and Seoul maintain the drills are necessary to maintain readiness, while Pyongyang routinely denounces them as hostile.