After Pyongyang's longest missile launch, US strategic bomber takes part in exercises with South Korea and Japan

South Korea, Japan and the United States carried out joint air exercises with an American strategic bomber on Sunday, November 3, the South Korean army announced, after the longest missile launch carried out by Pyongyang.

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.

“The exercise demonstrates the U.S.-South Korea alliance's commitment to integrated extended deterrence in response to North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.”South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

During the maneuvers, South Korean and Japanese aircraft escorted the American strategic bomber to a designated location south of the Korean Peninsula, “demonstrating a strong ability to strike targets quickly and accurately”added the army.

Pyongyang “will never change its course of action”

This 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 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.

The North Korean news agency KCNA called it “the most powerful strategic missile in the world”and leader Kim Jong-un “expressed great satisfaction” after launch. North Korea has said 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.