The US held joint air exercises with South Korea and Japan involving strategic bombers yesterday, a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a “sudden launching drill”.
outh Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the exercise, in which South Korea’s F-35A, F-15K and US F-16 fighters escorted American B-1B bombers, demonstrated the allies’ “overwhelming” defence capabilities and readiness posture.
“(The exercise) strengthened the combined operation capability and affirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defence of the Korean Peninsula,” the South’s military said in a statement.
Japan flew F-15s over the Sea of Japan with the US Armed Forces’ B-1 bombers and F-16s in tactical exercises, Japan’s Defence Ministry said, calling the security environment “increasingly severe” after the latest North Korea missile landed within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The air drills come a day after North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off Japan’s west coast, following a warning of a strong response to upcoming military drills by South Korea and the United States.
North Korea’s state media KCNA said the country conducted a “sudden launching drill” on Saturday in an “actual proof” of its efforts to turn the “capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces into an irresistible one”.
Mr Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, issued another threat and accused the US of trying to turn the UN Security Council into what she called a “tool for its heinous hostile policy” toward Pyongyang.
Saturday’s missile launch, the North’s first since January 1, came after Pyongyang threatened on Friday an “unprecedentedly persistent, strong” response as South Korea and the United States geared up for their annual military exercises as part of efforts to fend off the growing nuclear and missile threat that the North poses.
North Korea’s state news agency said its Hwasong-15 missile had flown as high as 5,768km, before accurately hitting a pre-set area 989km away in open waters. It first test-fired a Hwasong-15 in 2017.
