Jin Yeong-seung (right), chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, poses for a photo with US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine (left) and Japanese Chief of Staff for Joint Operations Uchikura Hiroaki at the Pentagon on Wednesday (local time) during a trilateral chiefs of staff meeting. [Joint Chiefs of Staff]
Jin Yeong-seung (right), chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, poses for a photo with US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine (left) and Japanese Chief of Staff for Joint Operations Uchikura Hiroaki at the Pentagon on Wednesday (local time) during a trilateral chiefs of staff meeting. [Joint Chiefs of Staff]

North Korea pushed back Saturday against the decision by the South Korean, US and Japanese chiefs of staff to strengthen trilateral security cooperation — including continuing the joint military exercise Freedom Edge — calling it "the root cause of destroying peace and stability" on the Korean Peninsula and across the Asia-Pacific region.

A North Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson issued a statement Saturday describing the three countries' "unchanging hostile intent to dominate the region militarily and pursue hegemonic geopolitical interests through enhanced trilateral military cooperation," KCNA reported.

The spokesperson said the statement was meant to "sound the alarm over the dangerous provocative trilateral military cooperation of the US, Japan and South Korea, which is creating worrying conditions for military confrontation and conflict on the Korean Peninsula," and issued a stern warning about the negative consequences for the region's security environment.

The spokesperson also cited the combined air exercise at Osan Air Base and the multinational maritime exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2026 held in Hawaii, saying "the serious security challenge that the US-Japan-South Korea trilateral military cooperation poses to the Korean Peninsula and beyond absolutely cannot be overlooked."

The statement reaffirmed Pyongyang's position to "deter the military maneuvers of adversary states and thoroughly manage the security environment on the Korean Peninsula through a sense of responsible will and effective action."

The spokesperson also reiterated North Korea's intent to maintain its constitutional nuclear buildup policy.

"From a position of overwhelming strength, we will never tolerate the regional power imbalance imposed by the military collusion of the US, Japan and South Korea," the spokesperson said, adding that the country would "always remain faithful to its constitutional mission to neutralize present security challenges and prospective threats, and to reliably safeguard national security and regional peace."

Earlier, South Korean JCS Chairman Jin Yeong-seung, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine and Japanese Chief of Staff for Joint Operations Uchikura Hiroaki met in Washington on Wednesday (local time) to discuss trilateral security cooperation, including plans to conduct Freedom Edge, a multi-domain combined military exercise involving all three countries.


soohan@heraldcorp.com