SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) – The North Korean leader’s influential sister said Tuesday that the United States is showing force in the north with nuclear-capable B-52 bombers.
Her B-52 bomber training with South Korea over the Korean peninsula on Monday was the latest in a series of exercises between the allies in recent months. Their troops are also preparing to resume their largest field exercises later this month.
Kim Yo-jong did not describe the planned actions in his statement, but North Korea has frequently tested missiles in response to US-South Korea military exercises.
Hours after Kim’s testimony, the North Korean People’s Army General Staff put its front-line artillery units on alert after spotting sharp “enemy” artillery drills in the South Korean border town of Paju on Tuesday morning. said it had stepped up its surveillance efforts. The General Staff said about 30 shots were fired during South Korea’s exercises, a “very serious military provocation” that escalated tensions, and urged rival countries to immediately cease such activities near their borders.
South Korea’s defense ministry said after Monday’s training session that the B-52 deployment demonstrated the allies’ ability to repel a North Korean aggression. The US has deployed her B-1B bombers to the peninsula multiple times this year. Last month, the US and South Korea also hosted a simulation in Washington aimed at bolstering their response to the North Korean nuclear threat.
Last Friday, the South Korean and U.S. armed forces announced that they would resume the largest spring field exercise last held in 2018 with computer-simulated command post exercises from March 13-23. The allies had canceled or scaled back some of their routine exercises since 2018 to support dormant diplomacy with North Korea and protect themselves from the COVID-19 pandemic. After conducting a record number of missile tests last year and publicly threatening to use nuclear weapons in a potential conflict with rivals, they have resumed training.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, North Korea’s foreign ministry said the US overflight of her B-52 bombers was a reckless provocation, driving the situation on the Korean Peninsula “deep into a bottomless swamp”. “There is no guarantee that violent physical confrontation will not occur” if military provocations between the United States and South Korea continue, the statement said.
North Korea often uses fiery rhetoric during times of heightened hostility towards the United States and South Korea. North Korea’s possible steps include testing a nuclear device and launching a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, observers say. Last month, Kim Yo Jong threatened to turn the Pacific into a firing range for North Korea. In her statement on Tuesday, she said North Korea would consider a possible US attempt to intercept North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles as a declaration of war. She cited South Korean media reports that US forces are planning to shoot down a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile launched into the Pacific Ocean.
All of North Korea’s known ICBM tests were conducted at steep angles to avoid neighboring countries, and the weapon ended up in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
South Korea on Monday took a step towards resolving its thorny historical dispute with Japan. The move includes plans to use local funds to compensate Koreans for forced labor during Tokyo’s colonial rule, but does not require donations from Japanese companies.
