North Korea has threatened to take “quick, overwhelming action” after the United States flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber over the Korean Peninsula in an exercise with South Korean warplanes.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, issued the threat as the United States and South Korea continued joint military exercises.
“We keep our eye on the restless military moves by the U.S. forces and the South Korean puppet military and are always on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment,” Kim Yo Jong said in the statement, as reported by state media.
“The demonstrative military moves and all sorts of rhetoric by the United States and South Korea, which are so extremely frantic as not to be overlooked,” she continued, “undoubtedly provide (North Korea) with conditions for being forced to do something to cope with them.”
The flyover on Monday and Tuesday was also condemned by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry.
Another unnamed ministry official called it a reckless provocation that will push the peninsula “deeper into the bottomless quagmire.”
The statement added: “There is no guarantee that there will be no violent physical conflict” if the joint military exercises continue.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry defended the deployment of the B-52s in Monday’s training, saying it demonstrated the US and South Korean capabilities to deter North Korean aggression.
This is not the first time the United States has dispatched a long-range B-1B bomber or multiple B-1B bombers to the peninsula.
During previous diplomatic attempts and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the joint military exercises were cancelled or scaled back. They have since increased, particularly in light of North Korea expanding its ballistic missile program, conducting an unprecedented number of missile tests, and openly threatening to use nuclear weapons.
