North Korea denounced joint military drills between the US and South Korea saying the South Korean Air Force’s recent bombing mistake shows the risk of the region unintentionally getting dragged into a new armed conflict.
On Thursday, a South Korean fighter jet accidentally dropped bombs outside a target zone while in training, injuring dozens of civilians and destroying houses in Pocheon, north of Seoul.
“There is no need to explain how the situation would have developed if the bomb had been dropped just a little further north and crossed our border,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary on Wednesday. “It’s not a far-fetched imagination to say that an accidental spark could have engulfed the Korean peninsula, the region and the world in a new armed conflict.”
The incident took place just days before the US and South Korea began their annual combined military drills, raising scrutiny over the training set to run through next week.
North Korea has long bristled at the allies’ combined drills, calling them a war rehearsal. North Korea responded to the exercises by launching multiple missile off its west coast on Monday, marking its first ballistic missile firing since Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“We are closely monitoring the enemies’ military provocations without missing a single one in case of any unexpected developments, and if needed, we will take merciless action without warning,” the North Korean commentary said.
The White House condemned North Korea’s latest missile launches and urged Pyongyang to stop “unlawful and destabilizing” acts.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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