The US yesterday held joint air exercises bilaterally with South Korea and Japan involving strategic bombers, a day after North Korea fired a Hwasong-15 ICBM in a “sudden launching drill.”
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the exercise, in which South Korea’s fighter jets escorted the US’ B-1B bombers, demonstrated the allies’ “overwhelming” defense capabilities and readiness posture.
The exercise “strengthened the combined operation capability and affirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of extended deterrence,” the South’s military said in a statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Japan flew F-15s over the Sea of Japan with the US’ B-1 bombers and F-16s in tactical exercises, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement, calling the security environment “increasingly severe” after the latest North Korean missile landed within its exclusive economic zone.
“This bilateral exercise reaffirms the strong will between Japan and the United States to respond to any situation, the readiness of [Japan’s Self Defense Forces] and US Armed Forces, and further strengthens the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-US Alliance,” the ministry said.
The air drills came a day after North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off Japan’s west coast, following a warning of a strong response to upcoming military drills by South Korea and the US.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the country conducted a “sudden launching drill” on Saturday in “actual proof” of its efforts to turn the “capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces into the irresistible one.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, yesterday issued yet another warning, and bristled at the UN for trying to turn the UN Security Council into what she called a “tool for its heinous hostile policy” toward 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 said in a statement.
Saturday’s missile launch, the North’s first since Jan. 1, came after Pyongyang on Friday threatened an “unprecedentedly persistent, strong” response as South Korea and the US gear up for annual military exercises as part of efforts to fend off the North’s growing nuclear and missile threats.
The KCNA said the missile had flown for 1 hour, 6 minutes and 55 seconds, and as high as 5,768km, before accurately hitting a pre-set area 989km away in open waters. Hwasong-15 was first tested in 2017.
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin said Saturday’s launch “clearly” signals the North’s intent to conduct additional 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 told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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