Seoul, April 15 (IANS) South Korea and the United States on Tuesday staged joint air drills, involving at least one US B-1B bomber, over the Korean Peninsula, the defence ministry said, in a show of force against North Korean military threats.
The drills, which also mobilised South Korean F-35A and F-16 fighter jets and US F-16s, were designed to demonstrate the allies’ capabilities to respond to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile threats, according to the ministry.
The drills coincided with the 113th birth anniversary of North Korea’s late state founder Kim Il-sung, a major national holiday in the North, called the “Day of the Sun.”
“In order to deter and respond to North Korea’s threats, South Korea and the US will continue to expand combined exercises and strengthen the level of cooperation of the South Korea-US alliance,” the ministry said.
It did not specify the number of B-1Bs deployed or the exact location of the drills, Yonhap news agency reported.
The exercise marked the second one of its kind this year after the allies staged similar drills, involving the US heavy bomber, on February 20.
North Korea has often reacted angrily to the deployment of US strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula, accusing Washington of raising tensions.
Pyongyang threatened to use “strategic means” to counter threats from the US after the allies’ February drills.
The allies’ latest exercise also took place after the ouster of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this month when the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.
Separately, South Korea is continuing to “actively” engage in negotiations with the United States to resolve the issue of its placement on the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List (SCL), the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry issued the statement as the SCL came into force on Tuesday. The DOE’s inclusion of South Korea in the list’s lowest category has emerged as a hot button issue in bilateral relations.
–IANS
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