North Korea threatens military response to U.S.South Korean armed drills
North Korea called the ongoing South KoreanU.S. military drills a plot to invade the country, as it threatened on Tuesday to take unspecified “responsible” military steps in response.
The North’s warning came a day after the South Korean and U.S. forces kicked off their annual computersimulated command post training and a variety of field exercises for an 11day run. This year’s drills were to involve 48 field exercises, twice the number conducted last year.
In a statement carried by state media, the North’s
Defence Ministry said it “strongly denounces the reckless military drills of the U.S. and (South Korea) for getting more undisguised in their military threat to a sovereign state and attempt for invading it.”
‘Responsible activities’
An unidentified Ministry spokesperson said North Korea’s military will “continue to watch the adventurist acts of the enemies and conduct responsible military activities to strongly control the unstable security environment on the Korean Peninsula.”
The spokesperson did not say what measures North Korea would take, but observers say North
Korea will likely carry out missile tests or other steps to bolster its war capability.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry said later on Tuesday that its drills with the U.S. is a regular, defensive training. A ministry statement said South Korea will make an overwhelming response if North Korea launches direct provocations against it during the drills. North Korea views its rivals’ major military drills as invasion rehearsals, though South Korean and U.S. officials have repeatedly said they have no intentions of attacking the North. North Korea has previously reacted to South KoreanU.S. exercises with launches of a barrage of missiles into the sea.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week that this year’s military drills with the U.S. were designed to neutralise North Korean nuclear threats and would involve livefiring, bombing, air assault and missile interception drills.
Concerns about North Korea’s nuclear programme have grown in the past two years, as the North has testlaunched missiles at a record pace and openly threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively. The U.S. and South Korea have expanded their military exercises and increased the deployment of powerful U.S. military assets like aircraft carriers and nuclearcapable bombers in response.
This year, North Korea performed six rounds of missile tests and artillery firing drills.
‘No reconciliation’
North Korean leader Kim Jongun also declared his country will not seek reconciliation with South Korea and vowed to scrap the country’s longrunning goal of peaceful unification with South Korea. Mr. Kim said North Korea would take a more aggressive military posture along the disputed sea boundary with South Korea.
Experts say North Korea could believe a bigger weapons arsenal would provide it with a greater leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S. They say North Korea is desperate to win an international recognition as a nuclear state, a status that it would think helps it win relief of U.S.led economic sanctions.
North Korea is expected to further dial up tensions with more missile tests and warlike rhetoric this year as the U.S. and South Korea head into major elections. North Korea may stage limited provocation near the tense border with South Korea this year, experts say.