The U.S., South Korea and Japan
undertook a joint bombing exercise Sunday, dropping live ammunition on a test
range in South Korea. The mock attack was a show of force in retaliation
to North Korea test-launching a ballistic missile that flew over
Japan Thursday.
The mission consisted of two bombers
from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, four Marine F-35B from a U.S. base
in Iwakuni, Japan, four Korean fighters and four Japanese fighters,
according to a press release by U.S.
Pacific Command.
“U.S. Pacific Command maintains the ability to
respond to any threat in the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater at a moment’s notice,”
said the release.
The bombing run comes at a time of
heightened tension between the U.S. and North Korea. The Thursday missile
launch was the second time in less than three weeks that North Korea sailed a
missile directly over Japan. The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council passed
ever-stricter sanctions on North Korea last week on Monday.
The sanctions came after North Korea
conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test. North Korea claimed
the test was a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. Updated analysis of the blast by
experts say that the North Korean claim is likely accurate.
“If North Korea keeps on with this
reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its
allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed,” said U.N. ambassador Nikki
Haley to CNN Sunday. “And we all know that, and none of us want that.”
President Donald Trump mocked North
Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, Sunday calling him “Rocket Man,” on Twitter.
“I spoke with President Moon of
South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines
forming in North Korea. Too bad!,” tweeted Trump.
North Korea fired back Monday
calling the sanctions “the most vicious, unethical and inhumane act of
hostility,” via their state media wing, the Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea also test-launched two
intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, proving the country theoretically
could strike the continental U.S. with a missile.
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