North Korea announced today that it would respond to joint U.S.South Korean maneuvers with “continued, determined and overwhelming” military action, according to the official KCNA news agency.
The warning comes in the context of a series of missile tests Pyongyang has conducted in recent weeks, including the launch of four ballistic missiles on Saturday, days after the United States and South Korea completed the largest joint military air exercise ever conducted by the United States were organized states, two countries.
“We will continue to respond to any maneuvers against (North Korea) by the enemy with sustained, resolute and overwhelming practical military action,” the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement, according to KCNA.
The agency said the North’s recent ballistic missile tests are a “clear response” to Washington and Seoul for their military drills over the past week, dubbed “Storm Watch.”
The maneuvers were “deliberately intended to increase tensions in the region and are a dangerous maneuver of an extremely aggressive nature aimed squarely at North Korea,” the Pyongyang army said.
“The more persistent the enemy’s provocative movements, the more thorough and ruthless [os militares nortecoreanos] will fight them,” added the statement released by KCNA.
Hundreds of American and South Korean fighter jets, including B1B bombers, took part in the Watchful Storm exercise last week.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the exercise demonstrated “the ability and willingness to respond decisively to any North Korean provocation.”
At the same time, Seoul has countered North Korean criticism, saying the maneuvers pose no threat to any country.
However, the exercises provoked strong reactions from Pyongyang, which sees them as rehearsals for an invasion.
The North Korean army said the operations included launching tactical ballistic missiles that simulated attacks on air bases and rehearsed shooting down enemy planes.
The North Korean Air Force also conducted “a largescale combat operation” with 500 aircraft, according to KCNA.
The agency on Monday released images of North Korean military operations with missiles being launched from several unidentified locations.
air bases
South Korean President Yoon Sukyeol described the action as “a de facto territorial invasion”.
According to analysts, the air maneuvers were of particular concern for Pyongyang because its air force is one of the weakest points of its force, which lacks advanced aircraft and experienced pilots.
The details of North Korea’s operations over the past week show the importance the country attaches to destroying air bases in the south, said Cheong Seoungchang, a researcher at Seoul’s Sejong Institute.
“North Korea considers it important to attack and neutralize air bases in the first place because its own air force is fragile,” Cheong told AFP.
North Korea revised its nuclear doctrine in September to allow for preemptive strikes in the event of a threat to Kim Jong Un’s regime.
Seoul and Washington believe Pyongyang will soon conduct a nuclear test that would be the seventh in the regime’s history and the first since 2017.