North Korea says current joint US-South Korea military exercises are "an aggressive war scenario"

North Korean diplomat speaking at UN disarmament gathering in Geneva 22 Aug

• exercises are " an aggressive war scenario to carry out pre-emptive strikes against the DPRK"
• the DPRK will never place its self-defensive nuclear deterrence on the negotiating table or step back an inch from the path it took to bolster the national nuclear force
• US-South Korea "on-going military adventure would certainly add gasoline to the fire driving the current tense situation to further deterioration"

Oh dear, risk-off sentiment/caution seemingly justified still.

Call it a war of words for the moment but this isn't going away anytime soon.

Markets not fazed at the moment and we're seeing some dip demand again in USDJPY with core pairs also bouncing after the session falls so far.

North Korea seemingly not backing down just yet