S.Korea, US stage air drills, involving B-52H bomber, after N.Korea’s ICBM launch

Seoul:  South Korea and the US held joint air drills, involving at least one B-52H strategic bomber, on Friday, Seoul’s defence ministry said, a day after North Korea test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The North’s state media has confirmed the country conducted its first test of a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM on Thursday, raising tensions already heightened by its earlier weapons tests, including those of underwater nuclear attack drones, Yonhap News Agency said.

The South Korean Air Force mobilised its F-35A radar-evading fighters and F-15K jets for the drills, while the US side deployed F-16 fighters in addition to the bomber, according to the ministry.

It did not specify in which part of the Korean Peninsula the drills took place.

“It is assessed that (the drills) represented a close-knit, coordinated response demonstrating the powerful ‘strength of the alliance’ and the US will to provide extended deterrence against the recent series of North Korean provocations,” the ministry said in a press release.

The drills reaffirmed the capability to swiftly deploy US strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula as well as the allies’ enhanced combined operational capabilities and interoperability, it added.

The ministry also said the allies will demonstrate “through action” their resolve not to accept any nuclear attack from the North by strengthening the frequency and intensity of the deployments of US strategic assets.

Strategic assets usually refer to high-profile military assets, such as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, submarines and strategic bombers.

The latest deployment of the B-52H bomber followed its earlier dispatch to the Korean Peninsula for allied drills on Wednesday last week and on March 6.