North Korea has issued a warning against sparking "the world's first nuclear war" in the wake of last week's accidental bombing of a South Korean border village.
Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon and the South Korean Embassy in the U.S. by email for comment.
Why It Matters
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest in decades following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his regime's continued ballistic missile tests, the collapse of a 2018 North-South military pact last year, and North Korea's deployment of troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine.
Pyongyang has frequently cited U.S. joint military activities with its South Korean ally, including a major ongoing annual exercise, as justification for expanding its United Nations-sanctioned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
What To Know
On Thursday, a pair of South Korean KF-16 fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs about 5 miles before reaching their target—onto a South Korean village, injuring 31 people and damaging more than 150 houses.
Officials blamed human error, saying one pilot had input the wrong strike coordinates before taking off. The second pilot's reason for dropping his payload too early is under investigation.
The incident occurred only about 15 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a North Korean state media outlet, on Wednesday hit out over the incident, noting how close it had come to sparking an even more dangerous situation.
"There is no need to explain how the situation would have developed if a bomb had been dropped toward the north a little further to cross the border of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the statement read, using North Korea's official name.
"It is not unreasonable to imagine that an accidental spark might plunge the Korean peninsula and the region and the rest of the world into a new armed conflict."
The outlet linked the explosions to the U.S.-South Korean Freedom Edge military exercise, which American and South Korean military forces are carrying out with an eye toward the North Korean threat.
Such drills are "dangerous" and threaten to plunge the region into "the world's first nuclear war," KCNA said.
What People Are Saying
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a March 6 statement: "The Republic of Korea [South Korea] and the United States have identified realistic threats such as the North Korean military's strategy, tactics, and changes in power derived from Russia-North Korean military cooperation and analysis of various armed conflicts. This will be reflected in the [Freedom Shield] scenario to enhance the combined defense posture and response capability of the ROK-U.S. alliance.
What Happens Next
South Korean authorities have apologized for the shelling and pledged to compensate those affected.
Freedom Edge 25 will continue to run until March 20 as scheduled. However, live-fire drills have been suspended in light of the accident.
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About the writer
Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian ... Read more