South Korea and the US staged mixed air drills on Sunday, a day after North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the ocean, the Joint Chiefs of Workers (JCS) in Seoul have mentioned.

As a part of the train, South Korean F-35A and F-15K fighters, and US F-16s escorted American B-1B plane coming into the South’s air protection identification zone, the JCS mentioned. It didn’t specify what number of B-1B strategic bombers had been concerned.

Some ten plane had been scrambled as a part of the drills, in line with Yonhap information company. They flew in formation over the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the southern a part of South Korea.

“The coaching this time demonstrated the South Korea-US mixed protection capabilities and posture that includes the alliance’s overwhelming forces,” Seoul mentioned.

In accordance with JCS, this newest aerial train affirmed the US’ “ironclad” dedication to defending South Korea, and its prolonged deterrence pledge, which calls on Washington to make use of all its army capabilities, together with nuclear weapons, in case of an assault on its allies.

Earlier within the day, North Korea confirmed that it had fired its Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, the primary such check since January 1.

The “shock” launch train was carried out on the order of nation’s chief Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang’s state-run KCNA information company reported.

The check confirmed North Korea’s means to launch a “deadly nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces” and have become “clear proof of the positive reliability of our highly effective bodily nuclear deterrent,” it mentioned.

The missile landed about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the coast of the Japanese island of Oshimo, with Tokyo describing the transfer by North Korea as “an act of violence that escalates provocation in the direction of the worldwide order.”

The check adopted guarantees by Pyongyang to give you an “unprecedentedly persistent, robust” response to imminent joint drills by South Korea and the US. It’s deliberate that this week’s computer-simulated workout routines on tackling a North Korean nuclear menace can be adopted by Freedom Defend, the key wargames between the allies deliberate for March.

Pyongyang had earlier vigorously protested these workout routines, calling them a “dress-rehearsal” for a full-scale invasion of North Korea.

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