(MENAFN) Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, harshly criticized the upcoming joint military drills between South Korea and the United States, calling them a "reckless show of strength." Her remarks were issued Sunday via North Korean media underscoring growing tensions ahead of the exercises.

Serving as a vice department director within the North’s ruling Workers' Party, Kim warned that the drills could have severe negative consequences. The military training, known as the Iron Mace tabletop exercise, is set to take place from Monday to Friday at the US Forces Korea headquarters in Camp Humphreys, located in Pyeongtaek, a city in western South Korea.

The exercise is designed to enhance coordination between US nuclear capabilities and South Korean conventional forces in response to the ongoing threat posed by North Korea. Additionally, South Korea, the US, and Japan are set to carry out the Freedom Edge exercise, a joint multi-domain operation in international waters southeast of South Korea’s Jeju Island.

Kim Yo Jong denounced the allies' nuclear deterrence strategy as a "dangerous idea," suggesting that Pyongyang would interpret the drills as further evidence of the "present rulers’" hostile stance.

"I remind the US, Japan, and the ROK (South Korea) that the reckless show of strength made by them in real action in the vicinity of the DPRK (North Korea), which is the wrong place, will inevitably bring bad results to themselves," she stated.

The Iron Mace exercise will mark the third iteration since its inception under the Nuclear Consultative Group, a framework established after an April 2023 summit between then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and former US President Joe Biden. The upcoming drills will also be the first conducted under the leadership of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump, both of whom have expressed interest in renewing dialogue with North Korea.

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