The United States and South Korea held a joint air exercise involving U.S. strategic bombers on Sunday, a day after North Korea fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a “sudden launching drill.”
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the exercise, where South Korea’s F-35A, F-15K and U.S. F-16 fighters escorted American B-1B bombers, demonstrated the allies’ “overwhelming” defense capabilities and readiness posture.
The U.S.-South Korea exercise comes 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 said the country conducted a “sudden launching drill” on Saturday (February 18) in an “actual proof” of its efforts to turn the “capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces into the irresistible one.”
