The military and political situation “on the Korean peninsula and in the region has reached an extreme red line”. North Korea points the finger and threatens reprisals for the “reckless military maneuvers of confrontation” and the “hostile acts of the United States and its vassal forces”. Therefore: there will be no dialogue, writes the state agency KCNA.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Tuesday, during his visit to South Korea, assured to expand military maneuvers and to deploy more “strategic resources” against threats from the North in line with the “extended deterrence” agreed with Seoul , also reaffirming the US commitment to counter North Korea’s weapons development and to prevent a war.
Yesterday the United States and South Korea carried out a joint air exercise with American B-1B heavy bombers and F-22 stealth fighters, beyond F-35 jets of both countries, as reported by the Ministry of Defense in Seoul. The planes flew over the Yellow Sea, located between China and the Korean peninsula, in the first exercises of its kind this year. An example, for the North, of the “dangerous US scenario that will translate into transforming the Korean peninsula into a huge war arsenal”, for which Pyongyang will respond in the same way “to any military move with strong counter strategies, including nuclear more overwhelming” if necessary.
Joint US-Seoul exercises
Military tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated sharply in 2022 as the North conducted a record number of weapons tests, including the launch of its most advanced ICBM. Any joint US-South Korea military exercises infuriate Pyongyang, which sees them as a dress rehearsal for an invasion and has often responded with threats and exercises of its own.
North Korea threatens reprisals
