July 13 (UPI) -- North Korean propaganda services warned of tensions that could ensue if the United States and South Korea conduct joint military exercises in August.
Propaganda service Uriminzokkiri said late Monday that South Korean anti-military groups staged a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Seoul over the weekend, and that "the atmosphere demanding the termination of joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea" is on the rise.
On Saturday, a small group of South Korean protesters, representing a left-wing unification preparatory committee, demonstrated and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and an end to arms build-up in the South, according to South Korean news service Tongil News.
In a separate article, North Korean outlet Meari said that the pro-engagement South Korean Committee on June 15th Joint Declaration issued a statement that demanded the suspension of U.S.-South Korea joint exercises. North Korean propaganda claimed the joint exercises are "drills for invasion."
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North Korean media is addressing anti-military movements in the South after Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong issued a blunt warning to the South in March.
In a statement published to KCNA at that time, Kim called the defense exercises a "war game" and suggested they interfered with inter-Korean relations.
"The South Korean authorities, accustomed to paying lip service, are busy billing the drill as 'annual' and 'defensive one' and a computer-based simulation drill, as in the past," Kim said.
"It seems that they were all born with stupidity and have become the dumb and deaf bereft of judgment as they always sit on the fence."
The United States and South Korea have yet to disclose more details on potential exercises in August.
Yonhap reported Tuesday that new U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera met with Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul to reaffirm the bilateral alliance.
Seoul said "discussions are underway" on the August drills, according to the report.
