North Korea on Thursday threatened to respond after the US sent B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula earlier this week. This deployment happened during joint exercises with South Korean aircraft, which Pyongyang sees as a direct military threat.
The long-range bombers took part in aerial exercises with South Korea on Tuesday to demonstrate deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, according to Seoul’s defence ministry.
South Korean F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, along with American F-16s, participated in the drill. The ministry stated that the allies would continue strengthening their operational readiness in response to North Korea’s advancing arsenal, according to CBS News.
Responding to the flyover, an unnamed spokesperson from North Korea’s defence ministry, quoted by state media, called it “an open threat to the security of our state and a grave provocation that raises the military tension in the region to an extreme dangerous level.”
The official warned that Pyongyang would “deter by dint of powerful force the US aggressive attempt to permanently fix the malignant instability element in the security environment of the region,” as per news agency AP.
The flyover coincided with the 113th birth anniversary of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung—a date known as the “Day of Sun” and one of the most sacred holidays in the country. The timing is likely to further provoke Pyongyang, which has reacted strongly in the past to similar displays by the US, including with missile launches and fiery rhetoric, as per CBS News.
Later on Thursday, South Korea’s Air Force announced the start of its biannual “Freedom Flag” exercises with the US, featuring 90 aircraft and other assets. The drills will continue for two weeks and are expected to intensify North Korea’s anger.
Tensions have already been running high on the peninsula. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, recently dismissed US-led efforts to denuclearise North Korea as a “daydream” and reaffirmed Pyongyang’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. Her remarks came after a meeting among US, South Korean and Japanese diplomats who pledged to push forward denuclearisation talks.
This week’s B-1B deployment marks the second such exercise since US President Donald Trump began his second term.
In February, North Korea denounced a similar flyover as evidence of growing US-led hostility and responded with cruise missile tests. Trump has maintained that he has a “great relationship” with Kim Jong Un and has repeatedly expressed willingness to resume diplomacy, though North Korea has yet to publicly respond to his outreach.
