প্রকাশ: 07/11/2022
North Korea’s military said Monday its recent barrage of
missile tests were practices to attack its rivals’ air bases and warplanes and
paralyze their operation command systems, showing Pyongyang’s resolve to
counter provocative U.S.-South Korean military drills “more thoroughly and
mercilessly.”
North Korea fired dozens of missiles and flew warplanes last
week, triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas, in
response to massive U.S.-South Korean air force drills that the North views as
an invasion rehearsal.
U.S. and South Korean officials strongly condemned the
North’s missile launches, saying their drills were defensive in nature.
“The recent corresponding military operations by the Korean
People’s Army are a clear answer of (North Korea) that the more persistently
the enemies’ provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and
mercilessly the KPA will counter them,” the General Staff of the Korean
People’s Army said in a statement carried by state media.
It said its weapons tests involved ballistic missiles loaded
with dispersion warheads and underground infiltration warheads meant to launch
strikes on enemy air bases; ground-to-air missiles designed to “annihilate”
enemy aircraft at different altitudes and distances; and strategic cruise
missiles.
The North’s military said it carried out an important test
of a ballistic missile with a special functional warhead missioned with
“paralyzing the operation command system of the enemy.” It said it also
launched super-large, multiple-launch missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.
It didn’t specifically mention a reported launch Thursday of
an intercontinental ballistic missile aimed at hitting the U.S. mainland.
Almost all other North’s missiles launched last week were likely short-range,
many of them nuclear-capable weapons. They place key military targets in South
Korea, including U.S. military bases there in striking range.
“The KPA General Staff once again clarifies that it will
continue to correspond with all the anti-(North Korea) war drills of the enemy
with the sustained, resolute and overwhelming practical military measures,” it
said.
This year’s “Vigilant Storm” air force drills between the
United States and South Korea were the largest-ever for the annual fall
maneuvers. The drills involved 240 warplanes including advanced F-35 fighter
jets from both countries. The allies were initially supposed to run the drills
for five days ending on Friday, but extended the training by another day in
reaction to the North’s missile tests.
On Saturday, the final day of the air force exercises, the
United States flew two B-1B supersonic bombers over South Korea in a display of
strength against North Korea, the aircraft’s first such flyover since December
2017.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the participation
of the B-1Bs in the joint drills demonstrated the allies’ readiness to “sternly
respond” to North Korean provocations and the U.S. commitment to defend its
ally with the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear.
Even before the “Vigilant Storm” drills, North Korea
test-launched a slew of missiles in what it called simulated nuclear attacks on
U.S. and South Korean targets in protests of its rivals’ other sets of military
exercises that involved a U.S. aircraft for the first time in five years.
Some experts say North Korea likely aims to use the
U.S.-South Korean military drills as a chance to modernize its nuclear arsenal
and increase its leverage to wrest greater concessions from the United States
in future dealings.
U.S. and South Korean militaries have been expanding their
regular military drills since the May inauguration of conservative South Korean
President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has promised to take a tougher stance on North
Korean provocations. Some of the allies’ drills had been previously downsized
or canceled to support now-stalled diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program
and cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
– AP/UNB
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