Washington, June 6: The South Korean military reported on Wednesday that the United States flew a B-1B bomber over the Korean Peninsula, marking the first joint bombing drills with South Korea in seven years.
This development occurs amidst escalated tensions following North Korea’s dispatch of trash-filled balloons to the South and its interference with the latter’s GPS signals. Yonhap news agency disclosed on Tuesday that the South Korean military suspended a 2018 inter-Korean military pact.
During Wednesday’s exercise, the US bomber dropped Joint Direct Attack Munitions at an unspecified firing range in the country, while South Korean F-15K fighter jets escorted it, as reported by the ministry and cited by Yonhap news agency.
In 2017, the last time such an exercise occurred in South Korea, US B-1B bombers participated. The ministry stated that the exercise carried out in close coordination between South Korea and the United States, focused on implementing the US extended deterrence commitment and enhancing the combined defence posture.
During the exercise, the South’s F-15Ks joined in the live-fire drills, demonstrating a “solid” combined defence posture against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, as stated by the ministry.
Following the suspension of a 2018 inter-Korean military pact, the South Korean military announced on Tuesday its decision to resume all military activities along the demarcation line separating the two Koreas and the North West Islands. This marks the first time in five years that such activities have resumed.
On June 2, a trilateral ministerial meeting took place in Singapore, attended by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, Japan’s Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru, and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik.