Strategic bombers and stealth fighters were used in joint air drills between South Korea and the US on Thursday, prompting Pyongyang to warn that such operations might “spark an all-out showdown”.
The exercises, the first by the security allies this year, were held a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart pledged to strengthen security cooperation in order to resist an increasingly aggressive North Korea that is armed with nuclear weapons.
According to the South Korean defense ministry, the drills on Wednesday demonstrated “the US’s will and capacity to deliver robust and credible extended deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.”
According to the ministry, they involved American B-1B long-range heavy bombers and F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters from the US Air Force and South Korea flying over the Yellow Sea.
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman warned the exercises could “ignite an all-out showdown”, the state news agency KCNA reported. Seoul and Washington’s moves to ramp up joint drills crossed “an extreme red-line”.
