North Korea threatens action after US flies nuclear-capable B-52 bomber over Korean Peninsula

North Korea has threatened “swift, heavy action” after it flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber over the Korean Peninsula in an exercise with South Korean warplanes.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of dictator Kim Jong-un, threatened as the US and South Korea are holding joint military exercises.

Kim Yo Jong said in the statement, “We keep our eyes on the restless military moves by the US military and the South Korean puppet army and stand ready to take appropriate, prompt and forceful action at any time.” As reported by state media.

“The demonstrative military moves and all kinds of rhetoric by the US and South Korea, which are too hysterical to ignore, undoubtedly provide (North Korea) a compelling position to do something to deal with them,” he said. Are. “

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In this photo provided by the South Korean Defense Ministry, a US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress aircraft, center, along with South Korean Air Force KF-16 fighters and South Korean Air Force F-15K fighters fly over the Korean Peninsula. Flying over the western sea. During a joint air exercise in South Korea, Monday, March 6, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)

North Korea’s foreign ministry also condemned the flyover.

In a separate statement, an unnamed ministry official called it a reckless provocation that pushes the peninsula “deeper into a bottomless quagmire”.

The statement added: “There is no guarantee that there will be no violent physical conflict” if the joint military exercises continue.

FILE – In this photo provided by the North Korean government, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, delivers a speech during a national meeting against the coronavirus in Pyongyang, North Korea August 10, 2022. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

South Korea refers to the North as ‘our enemy’ for the first time in six years as tensions rise

South Korea’s defense ministry defended the use of the B-52 deployment in Monday’s training, saying it demonstrated the capabilities of the US and South Korea to deter North Korean aggression.

This was not the first time the US has sent long-range B-1B bombers or multiple B-1Bs to the peninsula.

In this photo provided by South Korea’s Defense Ministry, a US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress aircraft, center, with South Korean Air Force KF-16 fighters, bottom, and South Korean Air Force F-15K fighters Flies over the western sea. The Korean Peninsula during a joint air exercise in South Korea, Monday, March 6, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)

In this photo provided by South Korea’s Defense Ministry, a US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress aircraft with South Korean Air Force F-15K fighters over the western sea of ​​the Korean Peninsula during a joint air exercise in South Korea flies over the top. Monday, March 6, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)

The joint military exercises, which North Korea describes as a “provocation”, were canceled or scaled back during previous diplomatic efforts and amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, there has been a rapid escalation, especially in light of North Korea boosting its ballistic missile program, conducting a record number of missile tests and openly threatening to use its nuclear weapons.

Last Friday, the South Korean and US armies initially announced they would reinstate their springtime field exercises and hold computer-simulated command post training from March 13-23. The massive springtime exercise was previously canceled in 2018 by former President Donald Trump.

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Last month, Kim Yo Jong said North Korea would continue its missile tests even as his country turned the Pacific into a missile firing range. On Tuesday, he reiterated that North Korea would consider any US attempt to intercept one of its intercontinental ballistic missiles as a declaration of war.

In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, the South’s Sejong the Great, the USS Barry of the US and the JS Atago of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are seen during a joint naval exercise in the East Sea on February 22, 2023. (South Korean Ministry of Defense via Getty Images)

In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, the South’s Sejong the Great, the USS Barry of the US and the JS Atago of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are seen during a joint naval exercise on February 22, 2023. (South Korean Ministry of Defense via Getty Images)

North Korea has so far used sharp angles in its ICBM tests to avoid the perception of launching missiles at neighboring countries. The weapons later landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Earlier this week, South Korea announced an agreement with Japan to ease a historic dispute and boost trilateral Seoul-Tokyo-Washington security cooperation.

Two US B-1B Lancer strategic bombers, four US Air Force F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean Air Force F-35 fighter jets fly over South Korea on November 19, 2022. (South Korean Ministry of Defense via Getty Images)

A US B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, four US Air Force F-16 fighter jets and two South Korean Air Force F-35 fighter jets fly past South Korea during joint aerial exercises in response to North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch. Let’s fly from above. On November 19, 2022, at an undisclosed location in South Korea. (South Korean Ministry of Defense via Getty Images)

The plan involved Japan using local money to compensate Koreans who had been forced into forced labor during Tokyo’s colonial rule.

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Rahm Emmanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, commended the leaders of South Korea and Japan, saying “the potential for cooperation in the future is more important and has more value and realizing that you have to deal with historical issues.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report