South Korea announced on Thursday that it has conducted joint air exercises with the United States, including strategic bombers and fighter jets, which pose a strong threat from Pyongyang.
The planes flew over the Yellow Sea between China and the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
The display of military might came a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart warned of more such maneuvers and more security cooperation in the face of what they called a growing missile and weapons threat: the nuclear power plants of Pyongyang.
“The joint exercises demonstrate the US’s willingness and ability to provide a credible and comprehensive deterrent to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” the Defense Department said.
The exercises involved a U.S. Air Force B-1B strategic bomber and F-22 and F-35B stealth fighters, as well as South Korea’s F-35A, the ministry said.
A spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry said the exercises would “unleash a comprehensive confrontation” with Pyongyang, state news agency KCNA said. He warned that Seoul and Washington’s movements crossed “an extreme red line”.
Seoul is eager to convince its people of the US’s commitment to their defense after a year in which North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and conducted weapons tests almost every month.
Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup agreed to “expand and enhance the level and scope of joint military exercises” in the face of Pyongyang’s “ongoing provocations”, including a recent drone strike. attack.
“Dangerous Scenario”
A spokesman for the North Korean ministry called Austin’s commitment “a clear expression of the dangerous US scenario that will turn the Korean peninsula into a huge war arsenal and war zone,” according to KCNA.
A statement quoted by KCNA said the increased maneuvering by Washington and Seoul amounted to “talking about using nuclear weapons against” North Korea.
In light of this, he said, Pyongyang will follow the “principle of ‘nuclear to nuclear and all-out confrontation to all-out confrontation'”.
The spokesman added that the North is “not interested in any contact or dialogue with the United States as long as it maintains its hostile policy and line of confrontation.”
North Korea has reacted strongly to the military exercises between the United States and South Korea, viewing them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Military tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated in 2022 as the north conducted a record number of weapons tests, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile.
Source: DN
