North Korea threatened on Thursday to respond to the escalation of the US and South Korean military exercises with “offensive action,” the country’s official news agency KCNA reported.
The threat came a day after the United States sent nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean peninsula for joint air exercises with South Korean fighter jets in the latest show of force against Pyongyang.
The tension has increased in recent weeks, with the intensification of military exercises in Washington and Seoul.
KCNA said US and South Korean military exercises, as well as the deployment of advanced US military assets, had turned the peninsula into “a huge powder mine that could explode at any moment.”
“The military provocations of the warmongers, led by the US, have crossed the threshold of tolerance. This reality awaits a more explicit position and response from defense capabilities. [da Coreia do Norte]”KCNA said in a comment attributed to an academic.
“North Korea will continue to show responsibility and confidence in the crucial mission of deterring war through offensive actions,” he said.
The US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, begins talks with the South Korean and Japanese authorities during the day in Seoul, in order to coordinate a response to the intensification of North Korean weapons development and the threats of nuclear conflict .
After scheduled meetings with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and other South Korean authorities, Kim will participate in a meeting with South Korean and Japanese nuclear envoys on Friday, the South Korean government reported. .
In March alone, Pyongyang fired nearly 20 missiles in seven separate events, including an intercontinental ballistic missile, with the potential to reach the mainland United States, and several short-range weapons designed to carry out nuclear strikes against South Korean targets.
Source: TSF
