North Korea says nuclear war inevitable because of military drills by US and South Korea

A nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is inevitable because of threatening military drills by South Korea and the United States, North Korea’s foreign ministry said in comments carried by the official Korean Central News Agency late on Wednesday.

The foreign ministry said the military exercises involving hundreds of South Korean and US warplanes made the outbreak of war an “established fact.” It also blamed high-ranking US officials, including CIA Director Mike Pompeo, for “bellicose remarks.”

Two US B-1B heavy bombers joined large-scale combat drills over South Korea on Thursday.

The annual US-South Korean “Vigilant Ace” exercises feature 230 aircraft, including some of the most advanced US stealth warplanes, and come a week after North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date, which it says can reach all of the United States.

North Korea’s foreign ministry blamed the drills and “confrontational warmongering” by US officials for making war inevitable.

“The remaining question now is: when will the war break out?” it said in a statement. “We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it.”