US holds drills with Asian allies after North Korea’s ICBM launch

Joint air workout routines carried out after Pyongyang launches long-range ballistic missile into the ocean off Japan.

The US has held air workout routines with South Korea and Japan involving strategic bombers, a day after North Korea fired a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees mentioned the workout routines on Sunday demonstrated the allies’ “overwhelming” defence capabilities and readiness.

“[The exercises] strengthened the mixed operation functionality and affirmed america’ ironclad dedication to the defence of the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of prolonged deterrence,” South Korea’s navy mentioned in a press release.

Japan flew F-15 fighter jets over the Sea of Japan with US B-1 bombers and F-16 fighters, Japan’s defence ministry mentioned in a press release. It referred to as the safety setting “more and more extreme” after the most recent North Korean missile landed inside its Unique Financial Zone.

The long-range ballistic missile landed within the sea off Japan’s west coast after North Korea warned of a robust response to the deliberate navy drills by South Korea and the US.

State information company KCNA mentioned North Korea test-fired a Hwasong-15 from Pyongyang airport on Saturday in what it referred to as a “shock ICBM launching drill”.

KCNA mentioned the missile flew 989km (615 miles) and travelled for simply over an hour “earlier than precisely hitting the pre-set space in open waters of the East Sea of Korea” – utilizing the North Korean identify for the Sea of Japan.

UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any vary, which – relying on their design – may also be outfitted with a nuclear warhead.

It could be the primary take a look at of such a missile in additional than a month.

The take a look at was condemned “within the strongest phrases” by the Group of Seven, the group of the main seven world economies.

A press release launched after a gathering of G7 international ministers on the Munich Safety Convention referred to as the assault a “blatant violation” of UN Safety Council resolutions.