US flies long-range bomber in drill with South Korea, Japan in reaction to the North’s missile test

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States flew a long-range bomber successful a trilateral drill pinch South Korea and Japan connected Sunday successful consequence to North Korea’s caller test-firing of a caller intercontinental ballistic missile designed to onslaught nan U.S. mainland, South Korea’s subject said.

North Korea connected Thursday tested the recently developed Hwasong-19 ICBM, which flew higher and stayed successful nan aerial longer than immoderate different rocket it has fired. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it “an due subject action” to header pinch outer information threats posed by its rivals.

On Sunday, nan U.S. flew the B-1B bomber to train pinch South Korean and Japanese combatant jets adjacent nan Korean Peninsula, demonstrating nan 3 countries’ patient resoluteness and readiness to respond to North Korea’s advancing atomic and rocket programs, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said successful a statement.

The trilateral aerial training was nan 2nd by South Korea, nan U.S. and Japan this year, nan connection said.

The U.S. often responds to awesome North Korean rocket tests pinch impermanent deployments of immoderate of its powerful subject assets specified arsenic long-range bombers, craft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines to and adjacent nan Korean Peninsula. North Korea typically responds angrily to specified U.S. actions, calling them portion of a U.S.-led crippled to invade nan North and performing further weapons tests.

The U.S. has flown nan B-1B bomber complete aliases adjacent nan Korean Peninsula 4 times this year, according to South Korea’s military. A B-1B is tin of carrying a ample accepted weapons payload.

Thursday’s Hwasong-19 test, North Korea’s first ICBM test-firing successful almost a year, showed advancement successful North Korea’s rocket program. But galore experts opportunity North Korea still has immoderate technological issues to maestro to get functioning ICBMs that tin present atomic strikes connected nan U.S. mainland. The experts opportunity nan Hwasong-19 shown successful North Korea’s authorities media photos and videos looked excessively large to beryllium useful successful a war.

The ICBM trial was seen arsenic an effort to drawback American attraction up of nan U.S. statesmanlike predetermination this week and respond to world condemnation of North Korea’s reported dispatch of thousands of troops to Russia to support its warfare against Ukraine, observers say.