SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea said Thursday it was ready to counter US military moves with its “most overwhelming nuclear force”.
A Pyongyang State Department statement, in response to comments by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, said in Seoul on Tuesday that the US would step up its deployment of advanced military assets, including fighter planes and aircraft carriers, to the Korean Peninsula. It grew with a common training and operational plan with South Korea.
South Korea’s security concerns have increased since North Korea tested dozens of missiles, including potentially nuclear-capable ones, aimed at hitting targets in South Korea and the US mainland in 2022.
For decades, North Korea has called joint US military exercises and South Korean rehearsals a possible aggression, but allies describe these exercises as defensive.
South Korea’s defense ministry said Wednesday that the United States flew B-1B bombers and F-22 and F-35 fighter jets in exercises with South Korean fighter jets in South Korea’s western waters. The United States and South Korea are also planning a joint simulation this month to strengthen their response if North Korea uses its nuclear weapons. North Korea’s statement points to another series of provocative gun demonstrations in 2023, just as North Korea ramped up its own gun launches in 2022 when allies resumed mass training. North Korea’s actions included a series of missile and artillery launches, which it described as simulated nuclear strikes against South Korean and US targets.
South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman Ahn Eun-joo said North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal and missile program and verbal threats of a preemptive nuclear strike have forced Seoul to respond harshly to ensure the protection of its citizens.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman Chung Ha Gyu said recent coalition air exercises were aimed at demonstrating the credibility of the United States’ “enhanced deterrence”, including nuclear weapons. He mentioned a commitment to use the full range of military capabilities.He declined to reveal the exact number of US and South Korean aircraft that took part in the exercises. South Korea and the United States have also stepped up security cooperation with Japan, most recently including provocative ongoing trilateral anti-missile and anti-submarine warfare exercises in North Korea’s weapons tests.
With North Korean leader Kim Jong-un set to double down on his nuclear ambitions, tensions could escalate further.
At a policy meeting in December, Kim said he wanted an “exponential increase” in nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea, and a stronger military aimed at reaching the US mainland. He called for the development of ranged missiles.
Experts say Kim’s nuclear push is aimed at getting the United States to accept the idea that North Korea is a nuclear state, so that it can negotiate necessary economic concessions from a position of power. North Korea’s nuclear talks stalled in 2019 over disagreements over easing US-led economic sanctions against North Korea in exchange for steps to halt its nuclear weapons and missile programs. A North Korean spokesman said Washington had no interest in contacting or dialogue with the United States as long as North Korea maintains a “hostile policy and confrontational line,” and Washington has “unilaterally disarmed” North Korea.
