North Korea Blames US-Led Alliance for 'New Security Crisis' in Asia-Pacific

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads a convoy of warships involved in RIMPAC 2026 in Hawaii. (Wikimedia Commons/US NAVY/US3rdFleeet)

North Korea accused the United States, Japan and South Korea of creating a "new security crisis" in the Asia-Pacific, warning that their increasingly extensive military cooperation threatened regional stability.

In comments published Tuesday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a military commentator said the three countries were improving their combined war capabilities through large-scale military exercises, including the recent US-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise, international maritime warfare exercises and the world's largest joint naval exercise.

The comments claimed this year's RIMPAC involved more than 30,000 personnel, more than 30 warships, five submarines, and nearly 190 aircraft, describing the exercise as a rehearsal for "aggression" and accusing Washington of seeking military dominance in the region with the support of Tokyo and Seoul, reported Anadolu (4/8).

Pyongyang has also criticized recent US-South Korean air and logistics exercises, plans to strengthen US command structures in Japan, and the deployment of US advanced missile systems in the region.

They warned that North Korea would respond to "a new level of threat with a new level of deterrence."

Separately, North Korea's Foreign Ministry rejected recent US-led accusations that Pyongyang posed a cyber threat, calling the allegations "groundless" and politically motivated.

Previously, a Foreign Ministry spokesman accused the US of militarizing cyberspace through cyber command, joint exercises, and artificial intelligence initiatives, arguing that the United States - not North Korea - was responsible for increasing tensions in the digital realm.

North Korea said it would continue to protect its national security and development interests from what it called Western pressure.