South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted joint air exercises on Sunday with an American strategic bomber, the South Korean military announced, after Pyongyang’s longest missile launch. These exercises are being held three days after Pyongyang launched one of its solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), one of the most powerful and advanced in its arsenal, capable, according to experts, of reaching targets in the United States. The US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, as well as Japanese F-2 jets, were mobilized for the exercises, the military said.
During the maneuvers, South Korean and Japanese aircraft escorted the U.S. strategic bomber to a designated location south of the Korean Peninsula, “demonstrating a strong capability to quickly and accurately strike targets,” the military added. . It is the fourth deployment this year of a strategic bomber over the Korean Peninsula, the military said, and the second as part of a trilateral air exercise aimed at countering military threats from Pyongyang.
The B-1B is a long-range bomber capable of carrying conventional weapons and precision-guided weapons. Originally designed for nuclear capabilities, this bomber transitioned to an exclusively conventional combat role in the 1990s.
The latest ICBM launched from North Korea reportedly flew higher and further than any previous missiles, according to Pyongyang and the armed forces of Seoul and Tokyo, which tracked it in real time. North Korea’s KCNA news agency called it “the world’s most powerful strategic missile,” and leader Kim Jong Un “expressed great satisfaction” after the launch. North Korea has affirmed that it “will never change its course of strengthening its nuclear forces,” according to the official agency.
The shooting comes at a time when the international community is watching Pyongyang’s possible deployment of thousands of troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine, raising fears that North Korean soldiers wearing Russian uniforms could soon be engaged in fights.
