The South Korean and US militaries on Thursday announced the extension of large-scale air exercises in response to the launch of more than 20 missiles by the North Korean regime in the past two days.
“The Air Force of the Republic of Korea [nome oficial da Coreia do Sul] The US and the United States have decided to extend the training period of the large-scale joint air exercise ‘Storm Watchful’, which began on October 31, due to recent and continued provocations by North Korea,” according to a statement from the Heads of State. Largest set in South Korea, without specifying dates.
Pyongyang’s launches are, in turn, a response to these exercises, which were due to be completed on Friday and are supposed to be the largest of their kind in five years, as they involved more than 200 aircraft, including fighter jets. sneaky. fifth generation.
The two allies “share the opinion that it is necessary to exhibit a solid combined defense posture” in the face of “the current security crisis, which is accentuated by North Korea’s provocations,” adds the same note.
A spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a message to the media that the two sides were “discussing the details on the period” for extending the exercises, which include the deployment of F-15s, F-16s, EA- 18G (the version of the F-18 fighter-bomber adapted for electronic warfare scenarios), F-35A and F-35B fighters, which unlike the F-35A can perform vertical takeoffs and landings.
It is the first time that the Pentagon has deployed an F-35B on South Korean territory, a factor that may have particularly irritated Pyongyang, which on Tuesday had already threatened to respond forcefully to these exercises.
Tension on the peninsula is reaching unprecedented levels in the face of repeated North Korean weapons tests, maneuvers by allies and the possibility that, as satellite images seem to indicate, Kim Jong-un’s regime is ready to carry out the first nuclear test since 2017.
Source: TSF
