North Korea flies 12 warplanes near South Korean border, prompting Air Force scramble
Twelve N. Korean warplanes flew in formation near the South Korean border in a simulation of an air-to-ground attack Thursday, prompting Seoul to scramble 30 fighter jets of its own.
The South Korean military says it detected eight fighter jets and four bombers in the N. Korean formation. South Korea’s flight of 30 warplanes did not engage the sortie, however, and only guarded the country’s airspace. The flight is only the latest aggression to come from Kim Jong Un’s regime, which has launched numerous ballistic missiles in recent weeks.
Both U.S. and South Korean warplanes took part in a bombing exercise using JDAM precision bombs after an earlier launch from the North on Tuesday.
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles in the lead-up to Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Seoul last week, which coincided with pre-planned military drills between the U.S. and South Korea.
Tuesday’s launch flew more than 2,800 miles, the longest flight from a N. Korean missile in months, according to White House National Security Council coordinator John Kirby. The U.S. was still assessing the flight information to determine what kind of missile the regime fired as of Wednesday.
