This Wednesday, a formation of F-22 Raptors, the U.S. Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft, flew at low altitude over U.S. Forces Korea’s Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province, about 48 kilometers south of Seoul, Yonhap News reports.
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The F-22s were joined in a formation overflight by four USAF Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon and four Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) Boeing F-15K Slam Eagle fighters, before landing at Osan Air Base.
A lawmaker here on Thursday claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered more cyber attacks against South Korea.
Last month, the USA flew a B-52 bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons on a low-level flight over the South following the North’s January 6 nuclear test.
During the briefing, the NIS, cited studies on past North Korean provocations and other unspecified assessments and said the attacks could target anti-Pyongyang activists, defectors and government officials in South Korea, the Saenuri official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media publicly.
South Korea has been on heightened alert for possible actions by the North, including cyberattack.
“Once the THAAD system is deployed in South Korea, Chinese society will be bound to support the People’s Liberation Army to respond via a strong enough military deployment in northeast”.
South Korea’s opposition party has criticized the bill, and said it could give more power to Seoul’s spy agency. O’Shaughnessy, deputy commander of the US military command in South Korea, said in a statement.
The North says the drills are preparation for a northward invasion.
The Reconnaissance General Bureau is the intelligence and special operations wing of the North Korean military.
South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Thursday that the government maintains a denuclearization policy despite some debates on the possibility of the country’s own nuclear armament.
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Relations between the neighbors were completely severed this month after the North defied United Nations resolutions with a rocket launch, having carried out its fourth ever nuclear test a month earlier. The system would be useless against North Korean short-range missiles that fly at lower altitudes, and which pose the biggest immediate threat to South Korea because they could be fired quickly from mobile launchers. The allies say their drills are defensive in nature.
