The tone is rising on the Korean peninsula. This Monday, February 20, North Korea fired two new ballistic missiles from its east coast and Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister, threatened to turn the Pacific Ocean into a firing range. A reaction which follows a weekend where the two camps showed their muscles with a long-range missile launch in the North and aerial exercises in the presence of American bombers in the South. Why are relations straining again between the two Koreas?
With our correspondent in Seoul, Nicholas Rocca
North Korea will make its enemies pay the price of their shares and threatens to turn the Pacific Ocean into a firing range if US offensive actions continue. The words of Kim Jong-un’s sister this morning of February 20, accompanied by two short-range ballistic missile launches, bear witness to North Korean firmness.
While since the beginning of January the tension had subsided, the prospect of the American-South Korean exercises on Wednesday made Pyongyang react. South Korea and the United States will hold mock North Korean nuclear strike exercises, including scenarios of an equally nuclear response from the two allies.
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Each side seeks to show that it is ready for a very hypothetical confrontation
So, in less than 48 hours, a North Korean long-range ballistic missile crashed into Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and several US B-1b bombers flew over the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang insists on the rapidity of Saturday’s missile launch, described as “ surprise “.
Same lexical field in the South with aerial maneuvers that demonstrate ” immediate deterrent capability ” allies. Each camp seeks to show that it is ready for a very hypothetical confrontation.
The week promises to be tense on the peninsula as North Korea promised that the South Korean and American military exercises would meet with a response ” unprecedented “.