North Korea: Kim threatens to push the ‘button’ again after joint US-South Korea air drills

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The aircraft flew over the Yellow Sea, between the Korean peninsula and China. It was the first exercises of this kind this year

South Korea announced today that it had held joint air drills with the US involving strategic bombers and fighters invisible to most radars, angering North Korea.

The aircraft flew over the Yellow Sea, between the Korean peninsula and China. It was the first exercises of this kind this year.

The show of force followed announcements by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sap that the two countries would increase their security cooperation in the face of Pyongyang’s “unprecedented challenges”. .

The high schools were involved by long-range B-1B heavy bombers, invisible to most US Air Force F-22 fighter radars and also invisible to most South Korean Air Force F-35 radars, according to the Ministry of Defense in Seoul.

Yesterday’s air drills were intended to show “the will and capabilities of the US to guarantee an extended, robust and credible deterrence in the face of threats (…) by North Korea”, linked to its nuclear weapons and missiles , according to the same source.

A spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry reacted by stressing that the US could provoke an “all-out conflict” with North Korea, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Joint high schools crossed “an extreme red line,” he added.

Seoul is trying to reassure an increasingly worried public of how strong Washington’s commitment to South Korea’s defense is after a year in which Pyongyang described its nuclear power status as “irreversible” and carried out a record number of missile tests in defiance of international sanctions.

Messrs. Austin and Lee agreed to “expand and strengthen the level and scope” of joint military high schools” in the face of Pyongyang’s “ongoing challenges,” particularly the recent incursion of UAVs.

Threats of using nuclear weapons

The strengthening of joint US-South Korean military training centers and the deployment of strategic weapons in the region have been accompanied by declarations of “use of nuclear weapons” against North Korea, Pyongyang said.

It warned that it would respond to a nuclear attack with its own nuclear weapons, in “total war with total war”, adding that it was “not interested in any contact or dialogue with the US as long as it continues its hostile policy”.

In general, joint US-South Korean high schools infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as rehearsals for an invasion of its territory and often responds with threats, its own high schools, and weapons tests.

Stressing that the US bears “full responsibility for the worsening situation on the Korean peninsula”, Pyongyang wants to gain “legitimacy for its missile and nuclear weapons development programs” which it continues to vigorously pursue, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the university of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

According to him, the big parade and the launch of a spy satellite, for which preparations are being made in North Korea, may further escalate the tension.

According to the specialist website 38 North, satellite photos indicate that preparations are underway “for a large parade” in Pyongyang, a few days before one of the country’s most important holidays. The parade may take place on February 16, the “bright star day”, which corresponds to the birth date of Kim Jong Il, the son of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung and father of the country’s current leader Kim Jong Un.

Seoul and Washington have been warning since last year that Pyongyang has practically completed preparations to proceed with a new nuclear weapon test, its seventh in its history and first since 2017.

RES-EMP

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