N. Korea criticizes S. Korea-US air drills
Two U.S. B-1B bombers stage joint drills with South Korean and U.S. fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula, Monday. Courtesy of Defense Ministry
North Korea's defense ministry has accused South Korea and the United States of raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula with their joint military drills, warning the North would deter any aggressive attempt by the allies.
The North's defense ministry issued the warning in a statement dated Wednesday, a day after South Korea and the U.S. conducted joint air drills involving U.S. B-1B bombers over the peninsula in a show of force against North Korean military threats.
The North's ministry called the deployment a "reckless and unnecessary abuse of strength" and "a grave provocation" that raises regional military tension to "an extreme dangerous level."
The ministry accused the U.S. of "openly deploying nuclear submarine, strategic bomber, aircraft carrier and other strategic assets" to the peninsula at a new record level, saying such deployments have "been fixed as a routine military practice."
The ministry warned that the U.S.' "bluffing" military action would "inevitably bring serious negative consequences" to its own security situation.
"The DPRK will exercise the overwhelming deterrence ... and get the U.S. [to] realize by itself that the higher the level of provocation against the DPRK is, the greater the level of danger returning to the U.S. will be," the defense ministry added.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
The latest South Korea-U.S. exercise marks the third deployment of the U.S. B-1B bomber to or near the Korean Peninsula this year, including in February when the allies staged similar drills.
Tuesday's exercise also involved South Korean F-35A and F-16 fighter jets, as well as U.S. F-16s, and was aimed at demonstrating the allies' capabilities to respond to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats, according to South Korea's defense ministry.