Overview
- On Tuesday North Korea’s state news agency KCNA called the recent RIMPAC naval exercise a “war rehearsal” and said it would respond with a “deterrence of new level.”
- The Rim of the Pacific exercise ran from June 24 to July 31 with about 30 countries and 30,000 personnel, and South Korea led the combined naval component for the first time.
- KCNA also rejected allied plans for joint cyber responses and denied allegations that Pyongyang conducts state-linked cyber theft, calling such claims politically motivated slander.
- Allied officials point to expanded U.S.-South Korea-Japan cooperation on military drills and cyber operations as a response to activities analysts attribute to North Korean-linked hackers, who Chainalysis said stole about $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025.
- There is no independent confirmation of any new North Korean weapons from these statements, but the exchange raises the risk of further military or cyber escalation and could push regional alignments and countermeasures by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.