US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) shared a throwback photograph with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, joking that despite their “unfriendly look” in the picture, the two leaders “get along GREAT.”“Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling. Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.Trump’s remarks came ahead of the US-South Korea “Ulchi Freedom Shield” military drills, scheduled to take place from August 17-27, which North Korea has criticised.North Korea has repeatedly criticised the US-South Korea joint exercises, calling them “provocations.”On Friday, a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry alleged that growing military cooperation between the US, Japan and South Korea was developing into a “nuclear alliance.”“The US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance, and North Korea will respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent,” state media quoted the spokesperson as saying.The spokesperson also claimed that the upcoming drills “differed” from exercises conducted over the past five years, saying they were aimed at enhancing the countries’ ability to conduct warfare based on “new aspects of modern warfare.”“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” the statement published by KCNA added.Meanwhile, North Korea conducted a suspected ballistic missile launch on August 12, marking Pyongyang’s second such test in less than a week.Yonhap News Agency, citing the South Korean military, reported that North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the East Sea. The United States, however, referred to the incident only as a “missile launch.”
