North Korea launches missiles again in response to joint exercises by Washington and Seoul

< strong>North Korea upheld its defiance on Monday by responding with missiles to the air exercises between South Korea and the US the day before and vowed to continue. He will reply to each maneuver of the allies with an equivalent action, which threatens to worsen the historic tensionSo you live on the peninsula. The warning paints a worrying horizon as Seoul and Washington prepare their big spring military exercises, the Freedom shield, which will take place next month.

The advances shown by North Korea in recent years now allow it to respond to every movement in the south of the peninsula, something that left many of them untouched. Of course, in 2022 carrying out around fifty missile launches,a record number.

Last November, when he responded to the police, After combined exercises firing more than 30 shells in three days, was a good preview of what March may hold on the Korean peninsula.

With both parties pulling the strings to an unprecedented level and unwilling to show weaknessThe experts insist that the possibilities of a calculation error with fatal consequences are increasing more and more. Added to the equation is the increasingly heated debate over whether South Korea should get nuclear weapons as well.

The ruling Popular Power Party (PPP)urged This Monday, after the last missiles launched by the regime, Seoul will get hold of atomic bombs to have the ability to make “North Korea can never rise again if it occurs to use nuclear weapons on the peninsula” and thus achieve the a deterrent effect.

Large-Caliber Rocket Launcher

Pyongyang fired a large-calibre rocket launcher. two projectiles from a large-caliber rocket launcher were released into the Sea of ​​Japan, traveling more than 300 kilometers before hitting the water.

This artillery team, which fires 600-millimeter projectiles capable of maneuvering before hitting the target and classified by Seoul as short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), was The North Korean leader himself, Kim Jong-un , assured that it was released in the New Year by the regime and in its presentation. that it is capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads.

The North Korean media insisted on this last point, assuring that it is a weapon capable of carrying out a “tactical nuclear attack” and that four projectiles like those fired this Monday are capable of destroying an air base.

The message is not trivial; whether on Saturday the regime wanted to show that it has capacity to issue an emergency order and firing an intercontinental missile like the Hwasong-15, capable of reaching any point on the planet with the exception of South America, today insinuated that the What's up? It is capable of destroying South Korean air bases such as the one in Cheongju.

With its flight range, the projectiles fired this Monday could have easily hit Cheongju, the facility 110 kilometers south of Seoul and 150 from the inter-Korean border that houses F-35 fighters such as those used on Sunday by Seoul and Washington in maneuvers that sought to intimidate Pyongyang It was followed by the intercontinental missile on Saturday and also involved two US B-1 strategic bombers.

The North Korean Army demonstrated its superiority. It will show off its ability “to counter the US and South Korean air forces bragging about their air superiority” on Monday, the US air force said. the KCNA news agency said.

Kim Yo-jong's warning

In a statement published this Monday also by KCNA, the sister of the North Korean leader, Kim Yo-jong, said that the frequency with which Pyongyang will be throwing a number missiles into the Pacific Ocean will depend on the “of the character of the actions of the US forces.” He said the regime is aware “that the movements of US forces with strategic strike capabilities are recently accelerating on the Korean peninsula.”

“We are carefully analyzing the influence this will have on the security of our state, and we are going to make it an established fact once again to take equivalent countermeasures if judged to be a threat.” directly or indirectly”, he added.

For its part, the South Korean Army assured the What's up? He was ready to “respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocation” and vowed to fight back. maintain “a firm defense posture based on security cooperation between the Republic of Korea (official name of the South), the US and Japan.”

The mention of Tokyo, something that the South Korean Armed Forces rarely do in their statements, underlines the rapprochement between the two neighbors -whose relations have gone through their worst moment in recent years- in terms of security in light of the worsening of the situation in the peninsula.