Rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula; Seoul and Washington flew 20 fighters.
The South Korean military and the United States held an air drill with 20 fighter jets over the North Korean West Sea a day after eight missiles were fired.
While US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said in a threatening message that if Pyongyang conducts a nuclear test again in five years, it will face a backlash from Washington, Seoul and the world, South Korea and the United States today ( Tuesday) Twenty fighter jets flew over South West Korea as part of a show of strength for North Korea.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said the joint South Korean-US air show included 16 South Korean aircraft, including F-35E stealth fighters and four US F-16 fighter jets, the Associated Press reported. It demonstrated its ability to respond quickly to North Korea’s provocative actions.
The aerial showdown between South Korea and the United States came a day after the two allies fired eight surface-to-surface missiles into the eastern waters of South Korea in response to a North Korean missile test on Sunday.
South Korean-US moves escalate as US and South Korean government officials and North Korean experts say for weeks that signs of a new building have been observed at Pongi-ri, North Korea’s only known nuclear test site. And that Pyongyang could test a bomb soon. North Korea has not tested an atomic bomb since 2017.
US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said today (Tuesday) that if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, it will face a strong and explicit response from the United States, South Korea and the world.
According to Reuters, Sherman told a news conference after talks with his South Korean counterpart Chu Hyun Dong in Seoul: “Any nuclear test is a complete violation of UN Security Council resolutions (and) a quick and strong response to such a test. “There will be … I believe that not only South Korea and the United States and Japan, but the whole world will respond explicitly and strongly.”
“We are ready … and tomorrow (Wednesday) we will continue the trilateral talks (with South Korea and Japan),” he added.