US and S. Korea conduct precision drills in response to the DPRK
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South Korean and US fighter jets conducted precision bombing drills following the DPRK's launching of Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile over Japan on Tuesday.
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The US and S. Korea conduct precision bombing drills (S. Korea military)
In reaction to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) launching of an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile over Japan on Tuesday, South Korean and US fighter jets conducted precision bombing drills, according to Seoul's military.
Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said "With the participation of four South Korean Air Force F-15Ks and four US Air Force F-16 fighters, South Korea's F-15K fired two joint direct attack munition (JDAM) bombs against a virtual target at the Jikdo shooting field in the West Sea," referring to the Yellow Sea.
Additionally, the Joint Chiefs of Staff explained that the drills aimed to allegedly demonstrate the allies' "capabilities to conduct a precision strike at the origin of provocations."
All about the DPRK test
Tokyo said the missile’s 4,600 km range was feasibly the longest for a North Korean test flight, which are typically "lofted" higher into space to evade flying over neighboring countries.
The missile flew between 4,500 and 4,600 kilometers to a maximum altitude of about 1,000 kilometers, according to officials in Tokyo and Seoul.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea stated that it appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launched from the DPRK's Jagang Province.
The DPRK has used that province to launch several recent tests, including multiple "hypersonic" missiles.
The latest launch was Pyongyang's fifth in ten days, as the US, South Korea, and Japan flexed their military muscles; Last week, the three countries held trilateral anti-submarine exercises, which included a visit by a US aircraft carrier to South Korea for the first time since 2017.
This comes in addition to yet another provocative visit by a US official, this time by US Vice President Kamala Harris who was in Seoul on Thursday, touring the heavily fortified demilitarized zone that divides the peninsula in an effort to highlight her country's "ironclad commitment to South Korea's defense against the North”.
On August 2, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed Tuesday in Taiwan's capital amid great tensions between the US and China over Taiwan, marking the first visit made by a US House Speaker to the Island since 1997.
Read more: Japan, US, South Korea conduct anti-submarine defense drills in sea
