S.Korea, US, Japan hold drills as N.Korea slams US ‘nuclear blackmail’

• South Korea, the United States and Japan staged joint naval missile defence exercises on 17 Apr to improve responses to North Korean threats, as Pyongyang accused Washington of ramping up “nuclear blackmail” with military drills.
• The three nations agreed at talks in Washington on 14 Apr to hold regular missile defence and anti-submarine exercises in their efforts to boost diplomatic and military cooperation.
• Hours after the trilateral exercises, Ri Pyong Chol, vice president of the North Korean ruling party’s Central Military Commission, issued a statement criticising the U.S. for calling a U.N. Security Council meeting over its ICBM test.
• The North’s weapons development was a self-defensive measure of defence against the U.S., Ri said. He accused Washington of raising regional tensions “to the brink of explosion” with military drills simulating a “pre-emptive nuclear strike and an all-out war” against the North.
• The recent deployment of U.S. strategic bombers was “clear evidence that the U.S. nuclear threat and blackmail against us has reached a level that cannot be overlooked”, Ri said.
• “If the U.S. ignores our repeated warnings and continues actions that endanger the security environment of the Korean peninsula, we will take necessary action so that it feels a clearer security crisis and insurmountable threat,” he added.
• U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council at 17 Apr’s meeting: “Let me be clear, our lawful efforts to defend against the DPRK’s repeated escalatory actions do not in any way justify the DPRK’s unlawful behaviour.”

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-us-japan-hold-missile-defence-drills-counter-north-korea-2023-04-17/