South Korea, US stage combined air drill in response to North Korea missile launch
- State news agency KCNA called the launch a ‘guarantee for and a clear proof of the sure reliability of our powerful physical nuclear deterrent’
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the launch as a ‘provocative’ act in remarks alongside his counterparts from Japan and South Korea on Saturday
South Korea and the United States held a combined air drill involving a US strategic bomber on Sunday in response to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, South Korea’s military said.
North Korea said on Sunday it had fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the day before in a “sudden launching drill” that confirmed its readiness for “mobile and mighty counter-attack” against hostile forces.
North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off Japan’s west coast on Saturday afternoon after warning of a strong response to coming military drills by South Korea and the United States.
“The surprise ICBM launching drill … is an actual proof of the DPRK strategic nuclear force’s consistent efforts to turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counter-attack on the hostile forces into the irresistible one,” the state news agency KCNA said, using the abbreviation for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, bristled at the United States for trying to turn the UN Security Council into what she called a “tool for its heinous hostile policy” toward Pyongyang.