After a few days of exchanging missiles, Seoul and Pyongyang mobilize their air forces, raising tensions to levels not seen since the war of 1953
The two Koreas have entered a spiral of war in recent days that has been unprecedented since the war of 1953. After several days of exchanging missiles in their respective territorial waters, Seoul mobilized 80 fighters this Friday after it saw the deployment of more than 180 aircraft. his neighbor had discovered to the north.
Dozens of North Korean fighters and bombers – the exact number has not yet been determined, but there are about 200 – have flown over various islands and areas on the west and east coasts of South Korean territory. The planes conducted military maneuvers and fired aerial shots into a maritime “buffer zone,” South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said. In total, the North Korean aircraft carried out 80 broadsides. The discharge is a “clear violation” of a 2018 agreement that left this border area out of hostilities between the two countries.
The escalation of tensions in recent days is unprecedented. This week, North Korea broke two terrifying records: One of its missiles fell into South Korean territorial waters for the first time since the Korean War of 1953. And its military fired up to 23 projectiles in one day, more than ever since the peninsula was broken up in 1945. That is more rockets than the past two years combined.
Among the projectiles launched this week was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It is a missile that can carry one or more warheads. It has a minimum range of 5,500 kilometers and some can reach and even exceed 10,000. That is, it has the capacity to reach the west coast of the United States.
Only Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France and India have this weapon, which can be fired from nuclear submarines from multiple platforms, both on land and at sea. So far, Kim Jong-un has already overseen the launch of seven such projectiles this year. In addition, North Korea conducted 40 rounds of missile tests in 2022. An unprecedented escalation.
North Korea’s military practices are not unique to South Korea. The ICBM fired on Wednesday flew just 750 kilometers and landed just over 1,000 off the Japanese coast. A month ago, another projectile flew over Japanese territory, something that hadn’t happened since 2017.
But the threat may be even greater. US intelligence has been warning for weeks that the communist regime could be preparing a nuclear test. A show of power that has not been performed since 2017.
Observers wonder how this situation came to be. In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump’s efforts to reach out to the North Korean regime led to a easing of tension in the peninsula. Kim Jong-un has pledged to stop testing nuclear and long-range missiles. A military agreement was also signed between the two Koreas that, among other things, established the “military buffer zone” that Seoul says has been violated this Friday.
The confrontation is also surprising, as just a few months ago, in mid-August, Seoul offered Pyongyang economic aid in exchange for denuclearization of the peninsula. The North Korean authorities despised the agreement as a matter of “honour”.
No one dares to predict how far the neighbors will go in their war escalation. For now, the United States and South Korea have announced that they will extend their joint military exercises for another day, until next Saturday. Dubbed ‘Storm Vigilante’, these are the largest concerted maneuvers ever deployed by these countries.
More than 200 high-tech aircraft from both armed forces are taking part in the exercises. For example, the highly inconspicuous F-35A and F-35B fighters are extremely difficult to detect. KC-330 tankers and US F-35B fighters are also involved. To this we should add that Washington has deployed a force of 28,500 soldiers in South Korea, ready to intervene if necessary.
Source: La Verdad
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