The US and South Korea exercised with many strategic bombers and stealth fighters, prompting fierce protests from North Korea.
The US military on February 1 sent B-1B Lancer strategic bombers and F-22 and F-35B stealth fighters to practice synergies with F-35A fighters in the Korean Air Force. The planes flew together over the Yellow Sea, the sea between the Korean peninsula and China, marking the first air force drills between the US and South Korea this year.
“The exercise demonstrates the US ability and will to provide a strong and reliable extended deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” South Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement. fox said.
US and South Korean stealth bombers and fighters rehearsed in the Yellow Sea on February 1. Photo: Korean Defense Force.
North Korea said today that it will not hold dialogue until the United States stops pursuing hostile policies.
“The political and military situation on the Korean peninsula and the region has reached an extreme red line due to the reckless military moves of a confrontational nature, as well as the hostile actions of the United States and its foreign forces,” he said. most,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry as saying.
Pyongyang also warned that Washington is turning the Korean peninsula into a “huge arsenal of weapons and a dangerous war zone.” , including the “most overwhelming nuclear force”.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated as the sides continued to conduct military operations. The United States, South Korea and Japan have repeatedly conducted large-scale drills recently, while North Korea responded by testing a series of new weapons, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently called for an “exponential increase” in his nuclear arsenal, after declaring that North Korea has become a nuclear state and cannot be reversed.
Vu Anh (Theo Reuters, KCNA)