South Korea phases air drill with US in response to North Korea missile launch

North Korea has threatened the “toughest reaction” to the United States’ increasing joint army workout routines with South Korea to counter the North’s rising nuclear weapons ambitions.

U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, heart, F-22 fighter jets and South Korean Air Force F-35 fighter jets, backside, fly over South Korea Peninsula throughout a joint air drill in South Korea. (AP photograph)

By Reuters: The United States and South Korea held a joint air train involving U.S. strategic bombers on Sunday, a day after North Korea fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a “sudden launching drill”.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff mentioned the train, the place South Korea’s F-35A, F-15K and U.S. F-16 fighters escorted American B-1B bombers, demonstrated the allies’ “overwhelming” defence capabilities and readiness posture.

“(The exercise) strengthened the combined operation capability and affirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defence of the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of extended deterrence,” the South’s army mentioned in an announcement.

Japan’s Fuji News Network mentioned Japan and the United States had been additionally prone to conduct a joint air drill as early as Sunday afternoon.

The U.S.-South Korea train comes a day after North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the ocean off Japan’s west coast, following a warning of a robust response to imminent army drills by South Korea and the United States.

North Korea’s state media KCNA mentioned the nation carried out a “sudden launching drill” on Saturday in an “actual proof” of its efforts to show the “capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces into the irresistible one”.

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Leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, issued yet one more warning and bristled on the United States for attempting to show the U.N. Security Council into what she known as a “tool for its heinous hostile policy” towards Pyongyang.

“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she mentioned in an announcement.

Saturday’s missile launch, the North’s first since Jan. 1, got here after Pyongyang threatened on Friday an “unprecedentedly persistent, strong” response as South Korea and the United States gear up for annual army workout routines as a part of efforts to fend off the North’s rising nuclear and missile threats.

The North Korean state information company mentioned the missile had flown for 1 hour, 6 minutes and 55 seconds, as excessive as 5,768 km (3,584 miles), earlier than precisely hitting a pre-set space 989 km (614 miles) away in open waters. Hwasong-15 was first examined in 2017.

Japanese mentioned on Saturday the missile had plunged into waters inside its unique financial zone.

‘WITHOUT WARNING’

Nuclear-armed North Korea fired an unprecedented variety of missiles final 12 months, together with ICBMs able to placing wherever within the United States, whereas resuming preparations for its first nuclear take a look at since 2017.

ALSO READ | North Korea fires ballistic missile off east coast, says South Korea

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin mentioned Saturday’s launch “clearly” alerts the North’s intent to conduct further provocations.

“If North Korea conducts the seventh nuclear test, which could happen at any time, it will be a game changer in a sense that North Korea could develop and deploy tactical nuclear missiles,” Park instructed the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

The launch, guided by the Missile General Bureau, was carried out on an “emergency firepower combat standby order” given at daybreak, adopted by a written order from Kim Jong Un at 8 a.m. (2300 GMT on Friday), KCNA mentioned. South Korea’s army mentioned it detected the missile at 5:22 p.m. (0822 GMT).

ALSO READ | North Korea fires 3 ballistic missiles after unprecedented 12 months of checks

“The important bit here is that the exercise was ordered day-of, without warning to the crew involved,” mentioned Ankit Panda, a missile professional on the Washington–primarily based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The amount of time between the order and the launch is likely going to be decreased with additional testing.”

The army unit obtained an “excellent mark” over the drill and the North’s ruling social gathering “highly appreciated the actual war capacity of the ICBM units which are ready for mobile and mighty counterattack,” KCNA mentioned.

Analysts say North Korea is prone to conduct extra weapons checks, together with a attainable new solid-fuel missile which might assist the North deploy its missiles sooner within the occasion of a struggle.

North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes are banned underneath U.N. Security Council resolutions, however Pyongyang says its weapons improvement is critical to counter “hostile policies” by Washington and its allies.

READ | North Korea confirms it examined ICBM, touts ‘deadly nuclear counterattack’ capabilities

Published On:

Feb 19, 2023