North Korea fires more missiles as US puts B-1B bomber in drill

A US B-1B strategic bomber will take part in the ongoing joint aerial war games with South Korea, a military official in Seoul has said, hailing the move as a show of force against Pyongyang’s retaliatory missile launches.

“B-1B is scheduled to participate in the afternoon training,” said an unnamed South Korean defense ministry official on Saturday as quoted in an AFP report without elaborating on details about the concluding day of the military drills –dubbed Vigilant Storm – that began Monday and was originally due to end on Friday.

According to the report, although the B-1B bomber no longer carries nuclear weapons, the US Air Force refers to it as “the backbone of America’s long-range bomber force” that can strike anywhere in the world.

The so-called show of force came a day after South Korea scrambled its warplanes in response to what it claimed was the mobilization of 180 North Korean jet fighters.

The development came as North Korea denounced the extension of the massive war games, labeling the decision a “wrong choice.”

North Korea: US, Seoul made ‘dangerous, wrong choice’ in extending joint drills

South Korea

Pak Jong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a statement that extending the drills “is a very dangerous and wrong choice.”

“The irresponsible decision of the US and South Korea is shoving the present situation caused by provocative military acts of the allied forces to an uncontrollable phase,” Pak added.

North Korea launches 4 ballistic missiles: Seoul

Seoul’s military officials also declared on Saturday that North Korea has fired four short-range ballistic missiles into the western sea earlier in the day, noting that the missiles flew about 130 kilometers at an altitude of about 20 kilometers.

Pyongyang has launched a series of missiles this week, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in response to persisting US-led war games near its waters, drawing condemnation from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and raising speculation it could be readying for the resumption of nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.

Saturday’s launch, fired between 11:31 a.m. and 11:59 a.m. local time, came as American and South Korean forces took part in the concluding day of the six-day Vigilant Storm war games.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff boasted that the drills show “the combined defense capabilities and determination of the Republic of Korea and the US to resolutely respond to any provocations from North Korea, and the will of the US to implement a strong commitment to extended deterrence.”

Pyongyang had condemned the war games as “an aggressive and provocative military drill targeting” North Korea, insisting that the United States and South Korea would “pay the most horrible price in history” if they continued with the maneuvers.

North Korea urges end to US-South drills, vows more powerful response to Washington's provocations

North Korea warns the US and South Korea against continuing their joint military drills, vows more powerful response to Washington

The North has particularly expressed anger in the past over the deployment of US strategic weapons such as B-1Bs and aircraft carrier strike groups, which have been deployed to and near the Korean peninsula in times of high tension.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, has also ramped up its missile launches to protest the current US-led aerial military exercises. Such drills have long infuriated North Korea, which regards them as rehearsals for invading the nation.

North Korea’s blitz of missile launches on Wednesday and Thursday also included an intercontinental ballistic missile and another that landed near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The US and South Korea have also warned that the series of launches could culminate in a nuclear test by Pyongyang, and extended their largest-ever aerial war games to Saturday in response.

Washington further went to the United Nations Security Council on Friday to censure China and Russia for having “enabled” North Korea.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield also rejected criticism of her country’s joint war games with South Korea as a “propaganda” effort by Pyongyang, claiming that they posed no threat to other nations.

In recent days, North and South Koreas have exchanged missile fires that landed off the coasts of the rival neighbors for the first time amid the ongoing aerial war games.

American and South Korean forces began the combined military air drills earlier this week. The maneuvers involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day. It started just days after the allied forces concluded yet another major war game – dubbed “Hoguk” – that included 22 field exercises, featuring mock amphibious landings and river crossings.

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