Korea tensions rise over US ‘bomb drill’
Pyongyang slams war games as ‘imperialist provocation’
NORTH Korea said yesterday that the US military had conducted a nuclear bomb-dropping drill on North Korean targets in South Korea on Monday, condemning the action as an “extremely reckless” move towards nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.
“On May 1, the US imperialists committed one more military provocation of conducting a nuclear bomb-dropping drill against the major objects of (North Korea) in the sky over South Korea by bringing a formation of notorious nuclear strategic bomb B-1B in the wake of Key Resolve and Foal Eagle 17 joint military drills,” said the Korean Central News Agency.
The report said the bombers took off from the Guam base and “stealthily came in the sky over the East Sea of Korea to acquire the procedure and way of the co-ordinated operation with the strategic striking means such as nuclear carrier and nuclear sub”.
“What merits a serious attention is that such a military game is under way when (US President Donald) Trump and other US warmongers are crying out for making a pre-emptive nuclear strike at (North Korea) day after day,” it said.
Tension has remained high over the past two months between the US and North Korea over an American threat to stage a military attack on Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programmes.
The US and South Korea have been holding their largest-ever joint military exercises in the past two months, while the USS Carl Vinson nuclear aircraft carrier task group has arrived off the peninsula for joint drills with the South Korean military.
The US Forces Korea (USFK) said yesterday that a Thaad anti-missile system deployed last week in south-east South Korea was “operational”. USFK spokesperson Rob Manning said the system could “intercept missiles” from North Korea and “defend South Korea”.
Last Wednesday, about 20 US trucks and trailers carried Thaad elements, including radar, to a golf course at Soseong-ri village in Seongju county.
The deployment of Thaad in South Korea has been strongly opposed by countries in the region, including China and Russia, for upsetting the strategic balance in north-east Asia. Following the unexpected deployment, protests have been staged. Residents and peace activists tussled with thousands of South Korean policemen on Sunday to block two US oil tankers attempting to enter the golf course.
Three Won Buddhist monks even started a hunger strike in central Seoul. – Xinhua