Seoul, South Korea
CNN
–
South Korea’s military said South Korea scrambled about 80 fighter jets after spotting a large number of North Korean warplanes in a four-hour period on Friday, amid heightened regional tensions. further ladder.
In a statement, the South Korean military said it had detected about 180 North Korean military aircraft between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time, a day after Pyongyang was reported to have conducted a failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula began to rise on Monday, when the joint military exercise “Storm of Vigilance” began between the United States and South Korea, involving hundreds of aircraft and thousands of troops. from both countries, according to the US.
North Korea accused its allies of provocative actions and on Wednesday issued 23 rockets from the east and west coasts – the most missiles fired in a day – into the waters on either side of the peninsula, prompting Seoul to respond with three surface-to-air missiles.
The South Korean deployment Friday included an unspecified number of F-35A stealth fighters, and South Korean fighter jets taking part in the ongoing joint exercise, the statement said. also “maintained a posture of readiness,” the South Korean military said.
After Thursday check ICBM suspectThe United States and South Korea announced they would extend the drills by one day until November 5, a move denounced by a North Korean official as a “very dangerous and wrong choice”, according to state media. country.
Later, after meeting his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accused North Korea of ”reckless and irresponsible activities”.
“We have said before that activities of this kind have the potential to destabilize the region. So we urge them to stop that kind of activity and start engaging in serious conversations,” Austin said.
A meeting of the United Nations Security Council is scheduled for Friday to discuss recent missile launches by Pyongyang. According to a spokesperson for the US Mission to the UN, the US, UK, France, Albania, Ireland and Norway have called for an open meeting.
In an interview on CNN on Wednesday, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned North Korea’s actions, saying Pyongyang had violated numerous Security Council resolutions.
Thomas-Greenfield said the UN would “put pressure” on China and Russia to improve and strengthen such sanctions. She declined to say whether US President Joe Biden would increase sanctions on President Xi of China at the G20 but said it was “the president’s opinion”.
