Why Were South Korea-U.S. Drills to Counter North Korea’s Nuclear Threat Kept Secret? PPP: “Lee Administration Wary of North Korean Backlash”

[Financial News] It emerged belatedly on the 29th that South Korea and the United States had held the nuclear-conventional integrated tabletop exercise (CNI TTX) known as Iron Mace in private at the end of September. The People Power Party accused the Lee Jae Myung administration of being preoccupied with gauging North Korea’s reaction despite its overt nuclear threats. Whenever news of the Iron Mace exercise has been made public, North Korea has condemned it as a “nuclear war exercise farce” and reacted sensitively.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other sources, South Korean and U.S. military authorities held the Iron Mace exercise from September 29 to October 2. The exercise was reportedly held at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
Iron Mace is an exercise launched in July 2024 as part of implementing the joint guidelines of the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG). If U.S. nuclear-equipped strategic assets are deployed, the two sides practice joint response procedures, including support from South Korea’s conventional forces. They also discuss ways to integrate and employ forces to counter North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
The military publicly disclosed that it had held the Iron Mace exercise in July 2024 and April 2025, but has kept it private since the Lee Jae Myung administration took office.
The People Power Party sharply criticized the administration, saying, “Just how afraid of North Korea must the Lee Jae Myung administration be that it cannot even disclose the fact that it is holding a military exercise?” It pointed out that the exercise had also been made public last year, after Iron Mace was first held in 2024. The party stressed that it had clearly demonstrated the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s deterrent capability against North Korea’s illegal buildup of nuclear forces.
The People Power Party expressed concern, saying, “North Korea carries out illegal missile launches and provocations involving land mines day after day, while its nuclear threat grows increasingly overt and its provocations never cease.”
The People Power Party nevertheless lambasted the Lee Jae Myung administration, saying, “It held even exercises to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat in private. It is deplorable that it is concealing even its resolve to respond—something it should clearly demonstrate for national security—while being mindful of North Korea’s reaction.”
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