North Korea seethes at ‘nuclear blackmail’ as South holds battle video video games with US, Japan

By Reuters: South Korea, the United States and Japan staged joint naval missile defence exercise routines on Monday to reinforce responses to North Korean threats, as Pyongyang accused Washington of ramping up “nuclear blackmail” with navy drills.

The three nations agreed at talks in Washington on Friday to hold frequent missile defence and anti-submarine exercise routines of their efforts to boost diplomatic and navy cooperation.

North Korea examined a model new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday that specialists say would ease the way in which through which for missile launches with little warning, part of an increase in its navy actions in newest weeks.

Hours after the trilateral exercise routines, Ri Pyong Chol, vice chairman of the North Korean ruling event’s Central Military Commission, issued a press launch criticising the US for calling a UN Security Council meeting over its ICBM test.

The North’s weapons development was a self-defensive measure of defence in direction of the US, Ri said. He accused Washington of elevating regional tensions “to the brink of explosion” with navy drills simulating a “pre-emptive nuclear strike and an all-out war” in direction of the North.

The newest deployment of US strategic bombers was “clear evidence that the US nuclear threat and blackmail against us has reached a level that cannot be overlooked”, Ri said.

“If the US ignores our repeated warnings and continues actions that endanger the security environment of the Korean peninsula, we will take necessary action so that it feels a clearer security crisis and insurmountable threat,” he added.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield instructed the UN Security Council at Monday’s meeting: “Let me be clear, our lawful efforts to defend against the DPRK’s repeated escalatory actions do not in any way justify the DPRK’s unlawful behaviour.”

North Korea – formally recognized on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) – has been beneath UN sanctions for its missile and nuclear purposes since 2006.

DEADLOCK

After years of unity, the 15-member UN Security Council is now deadlocked on address Pyongyang. The United States and a number of other different completely different members want the council to toughen sanctions on Pyongyang, nonetheless veto-powers Russia and China are opposed.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia described the meeting on Monday as “unnecessary,” together with that it’s going to “simply make the situation worse.” China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said the state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula was at a crossroads.

“The United States and its allies should stop provocative military exercises,” Zhang instructed Reuters. “The other thing, which is also very much urgent, is the resumption of dialogue.”

Monday’s drills in worldwide waters between Korea and Japan convey collectively South Korea’s 7,600-tonne Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I, the U.S. guided-missile destroyer Benfold, and Japan’s Atago destroyer, moreover equipped with Aegis radar packages.

The effort focuses on mastering response procedures, from detection and monitoring to information-sharing, by making a digital aim in a state of affairs that features a North Korean ballistic missile provocation, the South’s navy said.

Pyongyang has threatened “more practical and offensive” movement as South Korean and U.S. forces have carried out annual springtime exercise routines since March, some involving Japan, which the North has described as a rehearsal for nuclear battle.

Separately, the air forces of South Korea and the United States are set to begin drills on Monday for a 12-day run.

Also on Monday, South Korea and Japan resumed “two-plus-two” talks of senior diplomatic and security officers in Seoul after a five-year halt, as their ties thaw after a years-long feud over issues with wartime historic previous.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has pledged to maneuver ties with Japan previous the earlier, visited Tokyo in March for the first time in 12 years as South Korea’s chief.