《TAIPEI TIMES》 Seoul scrambles jets as N Korea deploys 180 planes

/ AFP, SEOUL

The South Korean military yesterday scrambled stealth jets after detecting the mobilization of 180 North Korean warplanes, Seoul said, following a record-breaking blitz of missile tests by Pyongyang this week.

The deployment came a day after North Korea conducted a failed intercontinental ballistic missile test, and follows a decision by Seoul and Washington to extend their largest-ever joint air drills through today.

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“Our military detected around 180 North Korean warplanes” mobilized in Pyongyang’s airspace, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that Seoul “scrambled 80 fighter jets including F-35As,” while jets involved in the joint drills were also “maintaining readiness.”

Shortly after South Korea on Thursday announced the decision to extend the joint drills, Pyongyang launched three more short-range ballistic missiles, calling the decision “a very dangerous and wrong choice.”

Hours later, North Korea fired 80 artillery rounds that landed in a maritime “buffer zone,” South Korea said.

The barrage was a “clear violation” of the 2018 agreement that established the buffer zone in a bid to reduce tensions between the two sides, the Joints Chiefs of Staff said.

The artillery fire came after Pyongyang fired about 30 missiles on Wednesday and Thursday, including an intercontinental ballistic missile and one that landed near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

At a meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Maryland, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin described Pyongyang’s actions as “illegal and destabilizing,” and Seoul and Washington vowed to bolster their alliance amid the North’s growing threats.

Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup pledged to seek new measures to demonstrate their countries’ “determination and capabilities” following repeated North Korean provocations, the Pentagon said in a statement after the meeting.

“The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the sea, lawful unimpeded commerce, and respect for international law including freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful use of the seas, including the South China Sea and beyond,” it said.

“The Secretary and the Minister also acknowledged the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, as reflected in the May 2022 Joint Statement” between US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, it said.

Additional reporting by Reuters

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES