22. 11. 6.

오후 10:04 Vigilant Storm ends with more North Korean missile launches

Vigilant Storm ends with more North Korean missile launches

Two U.S. B-1B supersonic stealth bombers (upper right) are flanked by four U.S. F-16 fighters a
nd four South Korea F-35A stealth fighters during the Vigilant Storm exercise on Saturday. [JOI
NT CHIEFS OF STAFF]

 
North Korea maintained its barrage of missile launches with four more on Saturday morning as the United States flew two B-1B supersonic strategic bom
bers over the Korean Peninsula on the last day of a high-profile joint exercise with South Korea.
 
Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it detected four short-range ballistic missiles being fired from 11:32 to 11:59 a.m. Saturday. The missiles all flew appro
ximately 130 kilometers (81 miles), peaking at 20 kilometers and reaching a top speed of Mach 5.
 
Unusually, the launch site was not located in an area of the country's western or eastern coasts close to the North's traditional foes South Korea or Japan,
but in Tongrim, North Pyongan Province, only 20 kilometers from the Chinese border city of Dandong.

 
The launches took place on the last day of a much-publicized joint South Korea-U.S. Air Force exercise dubbed Vigilant Storm that was originally schedule
d to end on Friday but was extended by one day in response to the North's missile launches last week, which included a failed intercontinental ballistic m
issile (ICBM) launch.  
 

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22. 11. 6. 오후 10:04 Vigilant Storm ends with more North Korean missile launches

The North's Korean People's Army (KPA) Marshal and Politburo Presidium member Pak Jong Chon warned the United States and South Korea that they h
ad made "an irreversible, enormous mistake" by deciding to extend the exercise.
 
For the last day of the exercise, the United States mobilized two B-1B Lancer bombers that took off from Guam and flew over South Korea alongside four
South Korean F-35A fighter jets and four American F-16 jets, according to the South Korean military.  
 
Over 240 aircraft — including F-35A stealth fighters, F-15K jets and KF-16 jets from the South Korean Air Force, as well as F-35B stealth fighters, EA-18 ele
ctronic warfare aircraft, KC-135 tankers and U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft from the U.S. military — conducted a total 1,600 sorties during the si
x-day exercise.
 
The last time the United States flew B-1B bombers over South Korea was in 2017, when the North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test and conducted i
ts first ICBM tests.
 
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the presence of the B-1B bombers in the joint exercise showed the allies' ability to "sternly respond" to North Kore
an provocations and America's "ironclad" commitment to South Korea's defense.
 
North Korea is sensitive to such projections of U.S. military might close to its territory.
 
The regime has played up the threat from the B-1B bomber by describing it as a "nuclear strategic bomber" in state media reports, even though the plan
e has only been equipped with conventional weapons since the mid-1990s.
 
The B-1B bombers' deployment for the exercise came after defense chiefs from South Korea and the United States announced last Thursday that U.S. str
ategic assets will be continuously deployed to the Korean Peninsula while warning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un his regime would "end" if he used n
uclear weapons against Seoul or Tokyo.
 
Speaking at a joint press conference at the Pentagon after the 54th security consultative meeting (SCM) between the allies, South Korean Defense Ministe
r Lee Jong-sup said he and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin promised to employ U.S. strategic assets to a level "equivalent to constant deploymen
t" by "increasing the frequency and intensity of strategic asset deployment in and around the Korean Peninsula."
 
Austin said that although the shift would not result in the permanent relocation of more U.S. troops or assets, such as an aircraft carrier, to the region, it w
ould entail a greater and more formidable U.S. military presence on rotation to the peninsula and the surrounding waters.  
 
The U.S. defense secretary also warned in a joint communique issued after the SCM that "any nuclear attack against the United States or its allies and par

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22. 11. 6. 오후 10:04 Vigilant Storm ends with more North Korean missile launches

tners, including the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime."
 
In the joint communique, the allies said they would heighten information-sharing, consultations and "joint planning and execution" to deter North Korea's
use of nuclear weapons.
 
While the communique did not go into detail on what "joint planning and execution" would entail, the phrase did suggest a more active role for Seoul in
how U.S. deterrence capabilities might be put to use.
 
Calls have been growing in South Korea for Seoul to seek a nuclear-sharing arrangement like that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or oth
er measures to make up for the lack of its own independent nuclear deterrent.
 

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]

Korea
North Korea
missile
B-1B
strategic assets
United States
South Korea
bomber
stealth
ICBM

joint exercise
Vigilant Storm
defense
Pentagon
SCM
security consultative meeting
Defense Ministry

Department of Defense
Lee Jong-sup
Lloyd Ausin

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