The South Korean and US militaries are expanding joint exercises in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threats.
The United States has flown nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength against North Korea as concerns grow that Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test.
The long-range bombers were participating in joint air exercises with US and South Korean fighter jets over the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s national defense ministry said. Wednesday’s deployment was the first US B-52 bomber to hit the peninsula in a month.
The exercises “show the strong determination of the [South] The alliance between Korea and the US and its perfect readiness to respond swiftly and overwhelmingly to any provocation by North Korea,” Lieutenant General Park Ha-sik, commander of the South Korean air force command, said in a statement.
The South Korean and US militaries have expanded their combined military exercises in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
Last month, the Allies conducted their largest field exercises in five years, as well as computer simulations for command post training. The US also sent the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz for naval training with South Korea last week and anti-submarine exercises between the US and South Korea and Japan this week.
North Korea sees such military exercises as provocations that its rivals intend to attack the country. A day after the last flight of a B-52 bomber to the peninsula on March 6, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that her country was ready to take “swift, overwhelming action” against the US and South Korea.
Miniaturized warhead
North Korea has since tested a range of nuclear weapons to attack South Korea and the US. They include the Hwasong-17, the North’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile; an underwater drone with nuclear capability under development; and cruise missiles fired from a submarine.
Last week, North Korea unveiled a new battlefield warhead to fit short-range weapons aimed at South Korea. That led to speculation that it might want to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017, as its previous two nuclear test detonations came after it unveiled other new warheads. If carried out, it would be the North’s seventh nuclear weapons test.
Whether North Korea has functioning nuclear-armed missiles remains a matter of debate. Some experts say a new nuclear blast would be aimed at testing a miniaturized short-range missile warhead, as the country’s recent weapons testing focused more on weapons that would hit key military installations in South Korea, including US military bases there, at very high levels. places at a short distance.
Kim Jong Un has said North Korea will not return to denuclearization talks with the US unless Washington drops hostile policies against the North, a clear reference to joint military exercises with South Korea and US-led international economic sanctions. Some observers say North Korea’s leader wants to use his growing arsenal of weapons to pressure Washington to accept it as a nuclear power and lift sanctions.
On Friday, the top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet in Seoul to discuss how to respond to North Korea’s recent weapons tests, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
Speaking at a policy meeting on Wednesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said security cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo is critical in dealing with North Korean nuclear threats and other challenges. He said South Korea needs to strengthen its missile defenses and ability to launch preemptive and retaliatory strikes.