US-South Korea drills deter North Korea, Pentagon claims hours after North Korea launches ICBM

The Department of Defense claimed Thursday its frequent joint navy workouts with South Korea continues to discourage North Korean assaults.

“I feel what’s essential for folks to grasp is, one, deterrence continues to work,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder instructed reporters at a every day Department of Defense press briefing.

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Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder solutions questions throughout a briefing on the Pentagon March 16, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The remarks got here simply hours after North Korea launched its newest ICBM — the second of the yr.

The South Korean navy stated the missile was fired towards the East Sea. The launch got here hours earlier than South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kishida had been slated to fulfill in Tokyo to debate numerous points.

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In this picture distributed by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, middle, walks round what it says is a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on the launcher, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service through AP, File)

“Despite launching missiles into the ocean, North Korea isn’t attacking, nor ought to they, and that the United States, Japan, South Korea and different allies and companions within the area will proceed to work collectively to increase that deterrence and to maintain our international locations secure,” Ryder acknowledged.

The Thursday ICMB launch additionally got here amid the continued South Korea-U.S. Freedom Shield (FS) train, which the North has decried as “preparations for a battle of aggression” towards it, South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported. 

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This picture distributed by the North Korean authorities reveals what it says is a test-fire of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service through AP, File)

“And so when it comes to North Korea’s reactions to these kind of workouts, as you heard me say earlier than, not solely is it inappropriate, it’s destabilizing and regarding clearly to these within the area,” Ryder concluded.

The White House strongly condemned the launch.

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In this picture offered by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, along with his daughter, inspects what it says is an artillery drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service through AP)

“This launch is a flagrant violation of a number of UN Security Council resolutions. While U.S. INDOPACOM has assessed it didn’t pose an instantaneous menace to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, this launch needlessly raises tensions and dangers destabilizing the safety state of affairs within the area,” National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson wrote in an announcement.