North Korea vows ‘strong’ military response to US-South Korea drills

North Korea on Monday vowed a “lasting, firm and overwhelming” response to joint US-South Korean military drills, following a series of missile launches in recent days.

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Pyongyang’s new warning comes in response to the “Vigilan Storm” (“Storm with Vigilance”) exercise, the largest joint air exercise ever carried out by Seoul and Washington.

In a statement, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said it would “continue to respond to all anti-DPRK combat exercises by the enemy with sustained, decisive and massive practical military operations.” The official KCNA news agency reported.

During the “vigilant storm”, North Korea fired dozens of ballistic missiles into the sea, one of which landed near the South’s territorial waters. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the “real territorial invasion”.

The missile tests, which were accompanied by artillery fire and massive airstrikes, were a “clear response” to joint US-South Korean exercises, the North Korean statement added. The General Staff called the “vigilant storm” a “deliberate provocation aimed at causing tension in the region”.

“The longer the enemy’s military provocations continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the Korean People’s Army will confront them,” the statement further threatened.

Hundreds of U.S. and South Korean warplanes — including powerful B-1B heavy bombers — took part in “Vigilance Storm” exercises from October 31 to November 5. This is the first time the B-1Bs have visited the Korean Peninsula since December 2017.

According to the South Korean General Staff, the maneuvers were intended to demonstrate “North Korea’s ability and readiness to respond decisively to any provocation”.

US-South Korean maneuvers have long provoked strong reactions from North Korea, which it views as a dress rehearsal for an invasion of its territory or an attempt to overthrow its regime.

Air maneuvers are of particular concern to Pyongyang, analysts say, as its air force is one of its military’s weakest points, lacking both technologically advanced aircraft and experienced pilots.

North Korea already revised its nuclear doctrine in September to allow for preventive strikes in the event of an existential threat against Kim Jong Un’s regime.

The new doctrine states that if North Korea’s nuclear “command and control system” is “threatened by an attack by hostile forces, a nuclear strike would automatically be launched immediately.”

Seoul and Washington expect Pyongyang to conduct a nuclear test soon, the seventh in its history and the first since 2017.