Following the joint simulation between the United States and South Korea’s illegal joint military exercise amid tensions with North Korea for the so-called possessing of nuclear weapons; in retaliation, “The most overwhelming nuclear force” is what North Korea says it will use to respond to the United States provocative military actions.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry also stated in a statement on Thursday that the expansion of US-South Korea combined military exercises was pushing tensions to an “extreme red line.”
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According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), statement read, “The reckless military confrontational maneuvers and hostile acts of the US and its vassal forces have reached an extreme red-line due to the military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.”
The strongly worded statement was made in response to remarks made by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday in Seoul, the capital of South Korea that stated that Washington would increase the number of advanced military assets it sends to the Korean Peninsula. Austin stated that warplanes and aircraft carriers would be included in this increased military presence as the United States enhanced joint training and operational planning with the South.
Using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North Korean foreign ministry said that Washington was “working hard to ‘demonize’ the DPRK, spreading again all sorts of rumors.”
“Intensifying the full-scale offensive for putting pressure on the DPRK in all aspects including ‘human rights,’ sanctions, and military affairs,” the ministry added.
Pyongyang issued a warning that North Korea “will take the toughest reaction to any military attempt of the US on the principle nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation,'” stressing that it “will strongly control the present and future potential challenges with the most overwhelming nuclear force.”
Additionally, the North stated that the Korean Peninsula would become a “huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone” as a result of the US and regional allies’ military drills.
However, the White House denied in a statement that joint military drills conducted by the United States and its allies on and around the Korean Peninsula would be provocative.
“We deny that our joint exercises with partners in the region provoke in any way.” The White House said in a statement, “These are routine exercises that are completely consistent with previous practice.”
Since South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May of last year and openly invited the United States to participate in joint military drills with South Korea, including joint nuclear exercises, relations between the two countries have significantly deteriorated.
A joint aerial exercise with American B-1B heavy bombers, F-22 stealth fighters, and F-35 jets from both sides was held on Wednesday by the US and the South.
In 2022, North Korea launched an unprecedented number of missiles, including its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile ever, despite years of harsh sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Nations Security Council for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Seoul is trying to strengthen its partnership with Japan and strengthen its military alliance with the United States after being shaken by the North’s increased number of test launches.
Due to the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953 and ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two neighbors are still technically at war, and as a result, over 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea.
