Kim’s sister warns N. Korea ready to act against US, South

The influential sister of North Korea’s leader warned on Tuesday that her country is ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the United States and South Korea, a day after the US flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber in a demonstration of strength against the North. Monday’s US-South Korean training involving the B-52 bomber over the Korean Peninsula was the latest in a series of drills between the allies in recent months. Their militaries are also preparing to revive their largest field exercises later this month. Kim Yo Jong didn’t elaborate on any planned actions in her statement, but North Korea has often test-launched missiles in response to US-South Korean military drills because it views them as an invasion rehearsal. “We keep our eye on the restless military moves by the US forces and the South Korean puppet military and are always on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment,” Kim Yo Jong said in the statement carried by state media. “The demonstrative military moves and all sorts of rhetoric by the US and South Korea, which go so extremely frantic as not to be overlooked, undoubtedly provide (North Korea) with conditions for being forced to do something to cope with them,” she said. After Monday’s training, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said the B-52’s deployment demonstrated the allies’ decisive capacities to deter North Korean aggressions. The US deployed a long-range US B-1B bomber or multiple B-1Bs to the peninsula a few times earlier this year. Last month, the US and South Korea also held a simulation in Washington aimed at sharpening their response to North Korean nuclear threats. Last Friday, the South Korean and US militaries announced they would conduct a computer-simulated command post training from March 13-23 and restore their largest springtime field exercises that were last held in 2018.