North Korea launched four ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday as the US sent two supersonic bombers over South Korea in a display of military force that underscored rising tensions in the region.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the four short-range missiles fired from a western coastal area about midday flew about 130 kilometres towards the country’s western sea.
The North has test-fired more than 30 missiles this week, including an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday that led to evacuation alerts in northern Japan, and flew large numbers of warplanes inside its territory in a reaction to the combined aerial exercise involving the US and South Korea.
The South Korean military said two B-1B bombers trained with four US F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean F-35s jets on Saturday during the last day of the Vigilant Storm joint air force drills. The exercise involved about 240 warplanes, including fifth generation F-35 fighter jets from both countries.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry late on Friday described Pyongyang's military actions this week as an appropriate response to the exercise, which it called a display of US “military confrontation hysteria”.
It said North Korea will respond with the “toughest counteraction” to any attempts by “hostile forces” to infringe on its sovereignty or security interests.
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