DPRK takes countermeasures against U.S.-S.Korea joint air exercises

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Amid the record-scale U.S.-South Korea Vigilant Storm joint air exercises, the Korean People's Army (KPA) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) lashed out with a series of military countermeasures from Wednesday to Saturday, the KPA said Monday.

Military countermeasures will be implemented as categorical response to the "intolerable and unpardonable" "war drills," said a KPA statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), spelling out a detailed account of military maneuvers along the timeline.

From Wednesday to Saturday, the KPA fired to its western and eastern waters as well as open waters some 80 km off the South Korean coastal city Ulsan with tactical ballistic missiles, super-large multiple-launcher-fired missiles, ground-to-air missiles, and long-range multiple-launcher-fired missiles. The KPA air forces also mobilized 500 fighter planes in a large-scale all-out combat sortie operation, with a drill duration of nearly 4 hours, the statement said.

The KPA statement lauded a complete success of all the military operations of high performance on par with planned purposes, noting that the KPA will continue to take "sustained, resolute and overwhelming practical military measures," in response to all the anti-DPRK war drills.

During the U.S.-South Korea joint air exercises, Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, and a spokesman for the DPRK's foreign ministry issued statements of stern warnings and vehement denunciations on Thursday and Friday respectively, as the record-scale U.S.-South Korea Vigilant Storm joint air exercises were held on Oct. 31 to Nov. 4.