The United States deployed nuclear-capable bombers and stealth jets for joint drills with South Korea on Tuesday after the North Korean dictator’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, issued fresh threats.
The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers and advanced stealth jets in a show of force against North Korea on Tuesday, as the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un derided doubts about her country’s military and threatened a full-range intercontinental ballistic missile test.
The drills were taking place on Tuesday near the Korean Peninsula.
The deployment of the U.S. B-52 bombers and the F-22 stealth fighter jets for joint drills with South Korean warplanes was part of an agreement to protect South Korea with all available means, including nuclear, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.
The drills, which also included F-35 and F-15 fighter jets from South Korea, took place in the waters southwest of Jeju island, the ministry said.
The U.S. F-22 jets were deployed in South Korea for the first time in four years and will stay throughout this week for training with South Korean forces, it said.
The drills were held after North Korea claimed to have launched a test satellite for the development of its first military spy satellite, and tested a solid-fueled motor to be used on a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile in the past several days.
North Korea already has fired a record number of missiles this year as a warning over the previous U.S.-South Korea military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
There are concerns it may react to the latest aerial training by the allies with a new round of missile tests.
The drills were held after North Korea claimed to have launched a test satellite for the development of its first military spy satellite, and tested a solid-fueled motor to be used on a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile in the past several days.
North Korea already has fired a record number of missiles this year as a warning over the previous U.S.-South Korea military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
There are concerns it may react to the latest aerial training by the allies with a new round of missile tests.
Earlier Tuesday, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, used a slew of derisive terms — such as ‘malicious disparaging,’ ‘rubbish and dog barking: — when she dismissed the outside assessments that cast doubt on North Korea’s spy satellite development and long-range missiles.
North Korea said its rocket launches Sunday were tests of systems for its first military reconnaissance satellite and released two low-resolution photos of South Korean cities as viewed from space.
Some civilian experts in South Korea and elsewhere said the photos were too crude for a surveillance purpose and that the launches were likely a cover for North Korea’s missile technology.
South Korea’s military maintained North Korea fired two medium-range ballistic missiles.
Kim Yo-jong, whose official title is vice department director at the Central Committee of the Workers´ Party, is considered the North´s most influential official after her brother, according to South Korea´s spy service.
Lim Soosuk, a spokesperson at the South Korean Foreign Ministry, called her threats of a standard-trajectory ICBM launch ‘very regrettable.’
He told reporters that North Korea´s nuclear ambitions would only deepen its international isolation and worsen its residents’ economic difficulties.
North Korea is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world due to its nuclear and missile programs. But Kim Yo Jong said Tuesday that North Korea is determined to boost its defenses at all costs.
‘We make it clear that we will not remain a passive onlooker to any attempt to violate a sovereign state’s legitimate right but exercise our bounden rights and retake them at the risk of our lives if necessary,’ she said.
