U.S.deploys jets to S. Korea, The United States deployed stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday as part of ongoing joint military exercises between the two countries, a senior U.S. defense official said.
The F-22 Raptors were
sent to the main U.S. Air Force Base in South Korea amid spiking
tensions on the Korean peninsula. The U.S. military command in South
Korea said they were deployed to support air drills as part of the
annual Foal Eagle training exercises, which are carried out in
accordance with the armistice that put an end to armed hostilities in
1953.
North Korea has been
ramping up its rhetoric and military show of force in response to the
annual joint military exercises, declaring the armistice invalid on
March 11, 10 days after Foal Eagle began. It is something Pyongyang has
done before during heightened tensions.
The United States'
participation in Foal Eagle is intended to demonstrate the country's
"commitment to stability and security in the Asia-Pacific Region," the
U.S. military command in South Korea said in a statement that also urged
North Korea to tone down its rhetoric.
"The (Democratic People's
Republic of Korea) will achieve nothing by threats or provocations,
which will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international
efforts to ensure peace and stability in Northeast Asia," the statement
said. "The North Korean leadership is urged to heed President Obama's
call to choose the path of peace and come into compliance with its
international obligations."
North Korea's hot rhetoric
The deployment follows
fresh insults over the weekend from Pyongyang's propaganda machine
comparing the U.S. mainland with a "boiled pumpkin," unable to endure an
attack from a foreign foe, the state-run Korean Central News Agency
reported. North Korea, on the other hand, could withstand an offensive
from the outside, the report said, thanks to shelters that the
government had built around the country.
But the Pentagon and the South Korean government have said it's nothing new.
"We have no indications
at this point that it's anything more than warmongering rhetoric," a
senior U.S. Defense Department official said late Friday. The official
was not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.
The National Security
Council, which advises the U.S. president on matters of war, struck a
similar chord. Washington finds North Korea's statements
"unconstructive," and it does take the threats seriously.
"But, we would also note
that North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats,
and today's announcement follows that familiar pattern," said Caitlin
Hayden, a spokeswoman for the security council.
The United States will
continue to update its capabilities against any military threat from the
North, which includes plans to deploy missile defense systems.
In an added slap, North Korea has declared that it had entered a "state of war" with neighboring South Korea, according to a report Saturday from KCNA.
"The condition, which
was neither war nor peace, has ended," North Korea's government said in a
special statement carried by KCNA.
Saturday's reports also
asserted any conflict "will not be limited to a local war, but develop
into an all-out war, a nuclear war."
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