IRIA News

The United States and South Korea have jointly warned North Korea that the use of any kind of nuclear weapon against Seoul or other regional allies would “result in the end of Kim Jong Un’s regime.“

The warning from the allies came as the defense chiefs of the U.S. and South Korea held a meeting at the Pentagon for the 54th security consultative meeting.

According to a joint communique released by the U.S. Department of Defense, during his meeting with the South Korean defense minister, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “Any nuclear attack against the United States or its allies and partners, including the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime.”

The warning came amid concerns growing over North Korea’s unprecedented pace of weapons tests this year. Pyongyang has launched more than two dozen missiles over the last two days in response to U.S.-South Korean military exercises. North Korea fired at least a record 23 missiles in a single day on Wednesday. The isolated country also tested about 100 artillery shells that were fired into an eastern maritime buffer zone. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup “strongly condemned” North Korea’s testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, a number of short-range ballistic missiles, firing artillery into the ocean. They termed it “irresponsible and reckless activities” and said that “these kinds of activities are destabilizing to the region potentially.”

Last week, South Korea scrambled 80 military aircraft, including advanced F-35 fighter jets, after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detected 180 North Korean warplanes flying within North Korean territory.

The U.S. and South Korea said they “will work on response options towards all possible nuclear use scenarios” by North Korea. The two sides pledged to continue coordination toward achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as pursuing steps to encourage North Korea to choose a path leading to denuclearization.

Secretary Austin pledged to effectively respond to any Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) provocation by employing U.S. strategic assets to the level equivalent to constant deployment by increasing the frequency and intensity of strategic asset deployment in and around the Korean Peninsula. “We’re committed to building on these efforts to strengthen integrated deterrence and to ensure that this alliance continues to bolster security and stability on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Indo-Pacific,” Austin said.

Secretary Austin reiterated the firm U.S. commitment to providing extended deterrence to the Republic of Korea (ROK) utilizing the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities and advanced non-nuclear capabilities.

The United States, in its latest U.S. National Defense Strategy 2022, said: “Our strategy for North Korea recognizes the threat posed by its nuclear, chemical, missile and conventional capabilities, and in particular the need to make clear to the Kim regime the dire consequences should it use nuclear weapons … There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could employ nuclear weapons and survive.”

Vigilant Storm

Tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea launched 23 missiles in a single day in response to U.S.-South Korea air drills which Pyongyang views such exercises as a provocation.

On November 5, Washington and Seoul concluded ‘Vigilant Storm’, their largest-ever joint air exercises. Over 240 aircraft, including F-35A stealth fighters, F-15K jets, and KF-16 jets from the South Korean Air Force, as well as F-35B stealth fighters, EA-18 electronic warfare aircraft, KC-135 tankers and U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft from the U.S. military participated in the six-day exercise.

On the last day of the exercise, the U.S. mobilized two B-1B Lancer bombers that took off from Guam and flew over South Korea alongside four South Korean F-35A fighter jets and four American F-16 jets. The last time the United States flew B-1B bombers over South Korea was in 2017.