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North warns 'powerful' measures against U.S. after joint air drill with South

Published: 17 Apr. 2025, 10:08

KIM MIN-YOUNG
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Two U.S. B-1B bombers stage joint drills with South Korean and U.S. fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula on April 15. [YONHAP]

North Korea warned it would take "powerful" measures against the United States' "aggressive attempt" to perpetuate instability on the Korean Peninsula after the U.S. deployed B-1B strategic bombers for a joint air drill on Tuesday in South Korea.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the spokesperson for North Korea's Ministry of National Defense called the deployment of the B-1B "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,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday.

The South Korea-U.S. combined air exercise was conducted to assert the United States' ability to deter North Korean influence, according to the South Korean Ministry of Defense on Tuesday. In addition to the B-1B, South Korean Air Force F-35A stealth fighters and F-16 fighter jets, along with U.S. F-16s, participated.

The North Korean spokesperson pointed out that the U.S. has "renewed its record in openly deploying" strategic assets such as nuclear submarines, strategic bombers and aircraft carriers to the Korean Peninsula.

This shows that "the deployment of the U.S. strategic means on the Korean Peninsula has been fixed as a routine military practice, not as part of emergency measures, and is a constant, not a variable, threatening the regional security environment," according to the North.

North Korea “will exercise the overwhelming deterrence and continue to make the United States recognize that its unannounced deployment of strategic means is a reckless and unnecessary abuse of strength,” and that the United States will “realize by itself that the higher the level of provocation against the DPRK is, the greater the level of danger returning to the United States will be," according to the statement.

DPRK refers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

The B-1B had also been deployed over international waters near the Korean Peninsula during a trilateral air exercise involving South Korea, the United States and Japan on Jan. 15, and again on Feb. 20. North Korea had issued protests at the time as well.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]