SEOUL, January 4. /TASS/. The risk of a direct clash between the armed forces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea is at its highest in 2024, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The agency branded a series of recent South Korean military drills and statements by the South Korean leadership on bolstering the country’s military potential as "suicidal recklessness."

According to its commentary, "By request and with active cooperation of puppets, increasingly more invaders, above all, from the US and Japan, will loiter around the Korean Peninsula; they are conducting an unprecedented in its scale provocative policy course in the military sphere, including a nuclear strike. Due to this, the risks of clashes are at their highest this year."

The South Korean army held its first artillery drills this year on January 1, repeating them the following day. On January 3, the South Korean navy held drills in the waters around the Korean Peninsula. Joint US-South Korean drills kicked off on December 29 and will run until January 5.