The United States and South Korea’s Air Forces begin the five-day joint air drills on November 1, amid increasing threats from North Korea.
Tens of thousands of troops and more than a hundred fighter jets and warplanes participated in the five-day exercises that kicked off on Monday.
According to military sources, the joint aerial drills will involve “some 100 air assets each, including F-15K and KF-16 jets from South Korea and F-16s from the U.S.”
The American and South Korean military officials declined to provide further details about the ongoing drills, and said that “We cannot comment on the exercise as it is one that is not disclosed to the media.”
Both sides emphasized that the exercises will be conducted in a “balanced manner”, as the United States and South Korea seek to restart peace talks with North Korea and discuss critical issues of denuclearization and sanctions relief.
Earlier in August, the U.S. and South Korean forces conducted their annual joint military drills in a scaled-back manner.
The August military drills between the U.S. and South Korea received criticism from the North Korean officials, who accused the South Korean administration of escalating the tensions in the Korean Peninsula and threatening the prospects of peace.
Since then North Korea has conducted several missile tests including its latest hypersonic missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
The U.S. and South Korea have employed various channels to resume talks with the North Korean regime, however, North Korea has called on the U.S. and South Korea to stop “double standards” and urgently lift economic sanctions to facilitate peace talks.
