US deploys B-1B bombers for drills with South Korea, Japan

 

On Wednesday, the United States authorities separately sent out B-1B bombers for joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan as the three allies want to boost their defenses against North Korean missile threats.

As part of the current Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, the B-1B flew alongside South Korean FA-50 jets and U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters, according to South Korea's defense ministry. It was an American bomber's tenth such flight of the year.

The yearly military exercises are often criticized by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as a war practice. He slammed the two nations for conducting the joint drills. However, the three countries called the military drills defensive.

Separately, the Japanese defense ministry reported that 12 Japanese fighters, with four F-15 jets, participated in joint exercises with two U.S. Air Force B-1Bs.

Days after North Korea attempted a satellite launch that failed, the United States increased the defenses and led bomber drills.

The second phase of Ulchi Freedom Shield, a combined large-scale military exercise between the United States and South Korea, aimed to strengthen their defenses against North Korea. The exercise between the two countries, which wanted to strengthen their response to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile threats, began on Monday. Ulchi Freedom Shield was launched last week.  The exercise started on August 21, and it will run until August 31. 

South Korea and the United States kicked off the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield with various contingency drills, like the computer simulation-based command post military drills and Ulchi civil defense drills. The members of the United Nations Command also joined the military exercise. The personnel from Australia, Canada, the Philippines, France, Britain, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, and Thailand took part in the drills.

Earlier, the leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States met during the trilateral summit at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. They pledged to fight missile and nuclear threats from the People's Republic of China and North Korea.

Recently, Kim Jong Un also visited a navy unit to see a test of strategic cruise missiles. He vowed to strengthen the country’s navy amid the military drills between the US and South Korea.