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SEOUL — America and South Korea held a joint air train 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 Workers stated the train, the place South Korea’s F-35A, F-15K and U.S. F-16 fighters escorted American B-1B bombers, demonstrated the allies’ “overwhelming” protection capabilities and readiness posture.

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“(The train) strengthened the mixed operation functionality and affirmed the US’ ironclad dedication to the protection of the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of prolonged deterrence,” the South’s army stated in an announcement.

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Japan’s Fuji Information Community stated Japan and the US had been additionally more likely to conduct a joint air drill as early as Sunday afternoon.

The U.S.-South Korea train comes a day after North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the ocean off Japan’s west coast, following a warning of a robust response to approaching army drills by South Korea and the US.

North Korea’s state media KCNA stated the nation carried out a “sudden launching drill” on Saturday in an “precise proof” of its efforts to show the “capability of deadly nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces into the irresistible one.”

Chief Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, issued yet one more warning and bristled at the US for attempting to show the U.N. Safety Council into what she referred to as a “software for its heinous hostile coverage” towards Pyongyang.

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“I warn that we’ll watch each motion of the enemy and take corresponding and really highly effective and overwhelming counteraction in opposition to its each transfer hostile to us,” she stated in an announcement.

Saturday’s missile launch, the North’s first since Jan. 1, got here after Pyongyang threatened on Friday an “unprecedentedly persistent, robust” response as South Korea and the US gear up for annual army workout routines as a part of efforts to fend off the North’s rising nuclear and missile threats.

The North Korean state information company stated the missile had flown for 1 hour, 6 minutes and 55 seconds, as excessive as 5,768 km (3,584 miles), earlier than precisely hitting a pre-set space 989 km (614 miles) away in open waters. Hwasong-15 was first examined in 2017.

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Japanese stated on Saturday the missile had plunged into waters inside its unique financial zone.

‘WITHOUT WARNING’

Nuclear-armed North Korea fired an unprecedented variety of missiles final yr, together with ICBMs able to putting anyplace in the US, whereas resuming preparations for its first nuclear take a look at since 2017.

South Korean Overseas Minister Park Jin stated Saturday’s launch “clearly” indicators the North’s intent to conduct extra provocations.

“If North Korea conducts the seventh nuclear take a look at, which may occur at any time, it is going to be a recreation changer in a way that North Korea may develop and deploy tactical nuclear missiles,” Park advised the Munich Safety Convention on Saturday.

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The launch, guided by the Missile Normal Bureau, was carried out on an “emergency firepower fight standby order” given at daybreak, adopted by a written order from Kim Jong Un at 8 a.m. (2300 GMT on Friday), KCNA stated. South Korea’s army stated it detected the missile at 5:22 p.m. (0822 GMT)

“The vital bit right here is that the train was ordered day-of, with out warning to the crew concerned,” stated Ankit Panda, a missile skilled on the Washington–based mostly Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace. “The period of time between the order and the launch is probably going going to be decreased with extra testing.”

The army unit obtained an “wonderful mark” over the drill and the North’s ruling social gathering “extremely appreciated the precise conflict capability of the ICBM items that are prepared for cellular and mighty counterattack,” KCNA stated.

Analysts say North Korea is more likely to conduct extra weapons checks, together with a attainable new solid-fuel missile which may assist the North deploy its missiles sooner within the occasion of a conflict.

North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons applications are banned underneath U.N. Safety Council resolutions, however Pyongyang says its weapons improvement is critical to counter “hostile insurance policies” by Washington and its allies. (Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Josh Smith; Enhancing by Jonathan Oatis, Daniel Wallis, William Mallard and Michael Perry)