U.S. Strategic Bomber Participation in Air Force Training between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan... "Responsive to North Korea

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said today that the U.S. strategic bomber, B-1B, conducted an aerial exercise between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

F-15K and KF-16 of the Korean Air Force, F-16 of the U.S. Air Force, and F-2 of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces participated in the exercise over the overlapping of the air defense identification zone east of Jeju Island.

Today's training was conducted in such a way that B-1B was escorted by ROK-US-Japan fighters and moved to a planned training airspace to quickly and accurately strike virtual targets.The

B-1B is a supersonic strategic bomber that can fly up to 12,000 km at a maximum speed of Mach 1.25, and can be deployed from the U.S. military base in Guam to the Korean Peninsula in two hours.

It is the fourth time this year that a U.S. strategic bomber has been deployed on the Korean Peninsula, and the second time this year that the U.S.-Korea-Japan air training has been conducted.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said on March 31 that it was conducted in response to North Korea's launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles and ICBMs, adding that it showed the South Korea-U.S. alliance's ability to implement extended deterrence and the South Korea-U.S.-Japan security cooperation.