SEOUL —
North Korea fired four ballistic
missiles on Saturday, the South Korean military said — the latest in
Pyongyang’s testing blitz this week as Washington and Seoul concluded their
biggest-ever air force drills.
اضافة اعلان
The flurry of North Korean launches has included an
intercontinental ballistic missile and one that landed near the South’s
territorial waters. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called the barrage
“effectively a territorial invasion”.
The launches came as hundreds of US and South Korean
warplanes — including B-1B heavy bombers — participated in the Vigilant Storm
exercise, which Pyongyang described as “aggressive and provocative”.
“The South Korean military detected four short-range
ballistic missiles launched by North Korea from Tongrim, North Pyongan
Province, to the West Sea at around 11:32am to 11:59am today,” South Korea’s
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement Saturday, using another name
for the Yellow Sea.
Their “flight distance was detected at about 130km,
an altitude of about 20km, and a speed of about Mach 5”, they added. Mach 5 is
equivalent to five times the speed of sound.
The US and South Korea have warned that these
launches could culminate in a nuclear test by North Korea, and extended their
air force drills in response by a day, until Saturday.
Pyongyang ramped up missile launches in response to
the drills. Such exercises have long provoked strong reactions from North
Korea, which sees them as rehearsals for an invasion.
‘Significant threat’
Vigilant Storm concluded with
the
US Air Force deploying two B-1B long-range heavy bombers on the final day
in a ramped-up show of force.
This was the first time B-1Bs have flown to the
Korean peninsula since December 2017.
The South Korean JCS said the move demonstrated the
“capability and readiness to firmly respond to any provocations from North
Korea”.
Pyongyang has especially condemned past deployments
of US strategic weapons such as B-1Bs and aircraft carrier strike groups in
times of high tension.
While the supersonic B-1B “Lancer” aircraft no
longer carries nuclear weapons, it is described by the US Air Force as “the
backbone of America’s long-range bomber force”.
The USAF lists the Lancer’s weapons payload as 34
tonnes, which can include cruise missiles and laser-guided bombs.
The B-1B’s range can be extended by in-air
refueling, giving it the ability to strike anywhere in the world.
Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean studies scholar, told
AFP that given the B-1B’s status as a strategic US asset, its deployment will
be seen as a “significant threat” by North Korea.
On Friday, South Korea scrambled fighter jets in
response to what it said was the mobilization of around 180 North Korean
warplanes.
Experts say Pyongyang is particularly sensitive
about these drills because its air force is one of the weakest links in its
military, which lacks high-tech jets and properly trained pilots.
Compared with North Korea’s ageing fleet, Vigilant
Storm has seen some of the most advanced US and South Korean warplanes in
action, including F-35 stealth fighters.
The EU on Saturday slammed the North’s missile
launches as “a dangerous escalation” and called for a global “resolute and
united response”, including the full weight of UN sanctions.
At the United Nations Security Council on Friday, US
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield dismissed criticism of Vigilant Storm as
North Korean “propaganda”, saying it posed no threat to other countries.
She assailed China and Russia during the emergency
session, accusing them of having “enabled” North Korea.
Moscow and Beijing have in turn blamed Washington
for the escalation, and the meeting ended without a joint statement from the
full council.
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