LOC12:17
09:17 GMT
TOKYO, Aug 31 (KUNA) -- Four F-35B stealth jets and two B-1B strategic bombers from the US conducted a training with South Korea's F-15K fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula on Thursday in response to North Korea's provocations, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The unprecedented combined maneuver involved the F-35Bs from Japan and the long-range bombers based in Guam as well as a squadron of four F-15Ks, the South's Air Force said, according to the report.
The Air Force characterized the training as a joint "air interdiction operation," saying it showed the allies' resolve to deal resolutely with the North's continued ballistic missile launches and nuclear weapons development that threaten regional and global peace.
"Our Air Force has the capability of conducting perfect combined operations," Lieutenant General Won In-chul, commander of South Korean Air Force Operations Command, was quoted as saying.
"No matter when, how and where the enemy provokes, we will perfectly retaliate to make it feel an insurmountable sense of fear and deep regret," said Won.
The high-profile practice came after the North fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over the northern territory of Japan on Tuesday. (end)
mk.gta