On Thursday, China sent a clear warning to all the key players on the Korean Peninsula that it will never allow war or chaos on its doorstep. The announcement comes amid the show of force by the US and South Korea in response to North Korean missile launches. Beijing warned that the Peninsula is not a computer game.
Beijing will never allow war or chaos on its doorstep, Reuters reported on Thursday, quoting Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang's words at a monthly news briefing.
The statement comes amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and after the US and South Korea demonstrated a show of force in the region.
The US and South Korea held a joint flight operation in the region, involving four US warplanes, two nuclear-capable B-1B strategic bombers from Guam and two Japanese-based Marine Corps F-35B jets, as well as South Korean F-15K fighter jets, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Thursday, citing South Korean defense officials.
The KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling plane also took part in the operation.
"They conducted bombing drills over the Pilseung range in the eastern province of Gangwon," the agency specified.
The military exercises come two days after North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile from a site near Pyongyang, and issued a warning that the tests are not ending anytime soon.
The announcement by Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was made during her regular briefing on Thursday when asked about the possibility of new sanctions against North Korea, pushed by Japan and the US.
It was regrettable that some countries only applied sanctions and overlooked the United Nations Security Council resolution's requirements for dialogue, she added.
Confirming reports that first floated several months ago, the Telegraph reports that South Korea is preparing to send special forces units into Pyongyang to conduct a "clinical strike" - searching for, and taking out Kim Jong-un and his closest advisers, in the event that North Korea should start a conventional war. The plan is among the revisions being made to South Korea's latest strategy for dealing with an attack from the North.
Senior officials briefed South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, about revisions to the present defence of the nation on Monday, one day before North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan. Moon told the ministry to implement reforms to the military to meet the challenges that are increasingly being posed by North Korea. He added that the military should be ready to "quickly switch to an offensive posture in case North Korea stages a provocation that crosses the line or attacks the capital region", the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported. The prime minister also requested that the military "increase its mobility as well as its ability to carry out airborne and sea landings" and upgrade air defences.
Meanwhile, this is what a "hot" war attack by Pyongyang could look like from the South Korean perspective:
- In the event of a conventional conflict breaking out on the Korean Peninsula, North Korean artillery is expected to bombard the South's defences along the Demilitarised Zone as well as shelling Seoul, which is less than 50 miles south of the border.
- Massed tanks and infantry units, assisted by saboteurs and agents already in the South, would attempt to swiftly seize Seoul and other key cities and facilities in South Korea before the United States and, potentially, other allied nations could land reinforcements.
In retaliation, under the existing US-South Korean plan for the defence of the South, known as OPLAN 5015, the two nations would aim to bring their overwhelming air and naval superiority to bear from bases in South Korea and Japan, as well as aircraft carriers in the western Pacific, although it would take weeks before large-scale reinforcements, including heavy tanks and other equipment, could be landed.
Furthermore,as the following naval map as of August 24 shows, in practical terms there is no carrier support around the Korea penninsula, so at least one aspect of the theoretical plan is currently impossible.
The new South Korean plan will identify more than 1,000 primary targets in North Korea to be eliminated by missiles and laser-guided munitions - including nuclear weapons and missile launch facilities - at the same time as the conventional attack is halted.
Additionally, the military has been tasked with training special forces units that could be infiltrated into Pyongyang in order to target key members of the regime, including Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in order to bring about a more rapid conclusion to the fighting. While on paper such a "decapitation" move appears enticing, in reality the retaliation by the crippled NKorean regime against its southern neighbor, especially once it has lost its leader, would likely result in countless casualties and serve as the start of a gruesome regional, if not world, war.
THE US staged its own terrifying show of strength today by dropping huge bombs near the North Korean border - days after Kim Jong-un's latest missile outrage.
Four US F-35B fighter jets joined two nuclear-ready US B-1B bombers and four South Korean F-15 fighter jets in the joint military operation over the troubled Korean Peninsula.
The rogue state described the drills - which saw target bombing close to its border - as the "rash act" of a desperate nation.
"The wild military acts of the enemies are nothing but the rash act of those taken aback," said Kim's mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The exercise was designed to "strongly counter North Korea's repeated ballistic missile tests and development of nuclear weapons," a South Korean official told CNN.
In a statement, the US air force said its bombers flew out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and four stealth fighter jets from a US Marine Corps base in Japan.
They conducted a shocking bombing attack, which simulated a surgical strike of key enemy facilities, over the Pilseung Range in the eastern province of Gangwon - which neighbours North Korea.
The sabre rattling drill followed North Korea's latest weapons test - which was the first ballistic missile fired OVER Japan.
North Korea has been test-firing missiles at a rapid clip this year. With each launch, experts fear Kim's military can further refine and perfect its missile technology.
The bomber flights have becomes a common response to North Korean actions but the dropping off bombs is seen as an escalation by the US.
The mock attack came after President Donald Trump said it was becoming clear words would not resolve the Korean conflict.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said its latest missile launch was "a meaningful prelude to containing Guam," which it then called the "advanced base of invasion" for US forces.
In a follow-up statement, KCNA promised future launches "targeting the Pacific, where the US imperialist aggressor forces' bases are stationed".
"It should not be forgotten even a moment that the whole of South Korea can turn into ruins," the statement added.
A day after President Donald Trump finally broke his silence on North Korea after the isolated nation twice provoked its geopolitical adversaries in the span of just four days, Yonhap is reporting that the US sent four F-35B stealth jets and two nuclear-capable B-1B strategic bombers to train with South Korea's F-15K fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula on Thursday in what it described as an "unprecedented" escalation of the allies' military response to N.Korea's provocations.
Thursday’s air-to-ground precision-strike drills were conducted a mock bombing drill, which simulated a surgical strike of key enemy facilities, over the Pilsung Range in the eastern province of Gangwon.
The "unprecedented" combined maneuver involved the F-35Bs from Japan and the long-range bombers based in Guam as well as a squadron of four F-15Ks, Yonhap said.
They used MK-84, MK-82 and GBU-32 bombs, according to Yonhap. In a statement, US Pacific Command said the flyover was a "direct response to North Korea's intermediate range ballistic missile launch." "North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly," said Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander of Pacific Air Forces.
The exercise was designed to "strongly counter North Korea's repeated ballistic missile tests and development of nuclear weapons," a South Korean official told CNN.
In response, KCNA, the state-run North Korean news agency, threatened more missile tests, saying “we will in the future, too, conduct ballistic rocket launching drill targeting the Pacific where the US imperialist aggressor forces’ bases are stationed."
The demonstration followed the formal conclusion of the annual 11-day military drills between the US and the South known as the “Ulchi-Freedom Guardian” war games. The drills followed a demonstration of "overwhelming force" from the South Korean military that was ordered in response to the isolated North's latest provocation.
Also mobilized was a KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling plane, a defense source said.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive and one of the most controversial weapons systems in US history, is held out as "the cornerstone" of US defense in the Pacific. Based at a US base in Iwakuni, the first of 16 fighters arrived in Japan in January, showing Washington's "commitment to the defense of Japan with the most capable and modern equipment in the US inventory," a US Marines official told CNN at the time.
According to the Marines, the deployment of the fighters to Japan was ordered under the Obama administration, and was not related to ongoing tensions with North Korea.
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