An ROK F-15K fighter jet drops what South Korean authorities called "precision" bombs as part of a training exercise on Oct. 4, 2022 | Image: ROK JCS
Four South Korean fighter jets “precision” bombed a dummy target in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), in a show of force in response to North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) earlier in the day.
U.S. F-16 fighter jets also practiced attack squadron flights alongside South Korean F-15K jets as part of the training on Tuesday, JCS said.
“The ROK and the U.S., through the combined attack squadron flight as well as the precision bombing training, have shown our will to firmly respond to any and all provocations by North Korea — and that we have the capability and retaliation posture that can precision-strike the source point of [DPRK] provocation using the alliance’s overwhelming firepower,” JCS said.
South Korean and U.S. fighter jets fly side by side in an attack squadron formation | Image: ROK JCS (Oct. 4, 2022)
The language in the JCS statement about precision strikes echoes the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s so-called Three Axis defense system, which includes provisions for preemptively striking a source of potential attack, including the country’s leadership, and retaliatory strikes after an attack.
North Korea has slammed Seoul’s defense policy and Yoon’s support for strengthening preemptive strike capabilities multiple times this year.
The ROK Air Force fired two shots of air-to-surface Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) against a dummy target on Jik Island off the peninsula’s southeast coast as part of Tuesday’s drills, according to JCS.
South Korea and the U.S. responded similarly when the DPRK fired eight short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea in June this year, launching eight missiles as part of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
Tuesday’s training came after top officials from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo held calls with each other to discuss the IRBM test and condemn North Korea for breaching U.N. Security Council resolutions.
South Korea’s defense ministry said earlier in the day that North Korea is also preparing to test a liquid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and submarine-launch ballistic missile (SLBM), and that Pyongyang remains “ready” to conduct its seventh nuclear test.
Edited by Bryan Betts
Video of attack squadron flight of U.S.-ROK fighter jets and F-15K dropping bombs (Oct. 4, 2022) | Video: ROK JCS
Video of a screen during precision-bombing an island in the Yellow Sea (Oct. 4, 2022) | Video: ROK JCS
Four South Korean fighter jets “precision” bombed a dummy target in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), in a show of force in response to North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) earlier in the day.
U.S. F-16 fighter jets also practiced attack squadron flights alongside South Korean F-15K jets as part of the training on Tuesday, JCS said.
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Jeongmin Kim is a Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at KOREA PRO, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean relations and North and South Korean foreign and military affairs. Kim has covered the 2022 ROK presidential election on the ground, and prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency’s Seoul bureau.
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