The US and South Korean armies held large-scale joint air maneuvers on Wednesday. North Korea’s foreign ministry reacted strongly, saying the United States and its allies were flirting with an “extreme red line”.
South Korea and the United States on Wednesday held joint air maneuvers including a US strategic bomber and stealth fighter jets in response to threats from North Korea, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday (February 2nd).
The planes flew over the Yellow Sea, located between the Korean peninsula and China, in the first such exercises this year, the agency said, citing the South Korean military.
The show of force comes after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart announced an increase in such exercises and increased security cooperation.
“Total Showdown”
A spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry responded by saying the United States “will initiate an all-out confrontation” with Pyongyang, according to state news agency KCNA. “The military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region has reached an extreme red line due to reckless confrontational military maneuvers and hostile acts by the United States and its naval troops,” he said. he added.
“We have made it clear that we have no hostile intentions towards the DPRK [République populaire démocratique de Corée] and that we wish to use diplomacy to address the concerns of both countries and the region,” a White House National Security Council spokesman responded Thursday.
At the same time, the United States and the Philippines unveiled an agreement allowing American soldiers access to four additional bases in the Southeast Asian country which, like its longtime ally, is seeking to counter the rise in China’s military power. Washington and Manila have agreed to extend an existing agreement to include four new sites “in strategic regions of the country”, Philippine and American officials said in a joint statement.
Concerned public opinion
Wednesday’s U.S.-Korea maneuvers involved a B-1B strategic bomber, U.S. Air Force F-22 and F-35B stealth fighter jets and South Army F-35A fighter jets -Korean.
“These combined air exercises demonstrate the willingness and ability of the United States to provide a broad, strong, and credible deterrent against nuclear and missile threats from North Korea,” the South Korean Defense Ministry added as quoted by Yonhap. .
Seoul wants to convince its increasingly worried public of Washington’s commitment to its side, after a year in which North Korea proclaimed itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and carried out a record number of missile tests.
Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup agreed to “expand and enhance the level and scale” of joint military exercises, in light of “continued provocations” by Pyongyang, including a recent drone incursion, they said in a statement.
All joint military maneuvers between the United States and South Korea infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as a rehearsal for a possible invasion and has often responded with threats and drills from its side.
