B-1B bombers deployed as trilateral aerial exercise sends message to North

South Korea, the United States and Japan held a trilateral aerial exercise involving U.S. B-1B strategic bombers over the Korean Peninsula Wednesday in response to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch earlier this week.

Two U.S. B-1B strategic bombers are seen escorted by South Korean F-15K, U.S. F-16 and Japanese F-2 fighter jets in an aerial exercise over waters east of Jeju Island on Wednesday. [JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF]

South Korea, the United States and Japan held a trilateral aerial exercise involving U.S. B-1B strategic bombers over the Korean Peninsula Wednesday in response to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch earlier this week.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the trilateral drill occurred over waters east of Jeju Island, where South Korea and Japan's air defense identification zones (ADIZ) overlap.

Two B-1B bombers were seen in photos of the drill released by the JCS. It also involved a variety of fighter jets, including South Korean F-15K Slam Eagles, U.S. F-16s and Japanese F-2s.

The B-1B Lancer supersonic bomber, dubbed the "swan of death," can fly up to 11,998 kilometers (7455 miles) at a maximum speed of Mach 1.25. It can carry up to 57 tons of weapons. With guided weapons, it can launch precision strikes on military bases and command centers from hundreds of miles away.

It can reach the Korean Peninsula within two hours if forward deployed to Guam.

"The exercise was planned to strengthen the three countries' capability to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, such as its solid-fuel ICBM launches, and to demonstrate a strong will for a joint response," the JCS said in a statement, saying the three countries plan to continue to expand security cooperation in the future.

On Tuesday, South Korea, the United States and Japan launched a real-time system to share North Korean missile warning data.

Such trilateral security cooperation is in keeping the agreements made by the leaders of the three countries at the Camp David summit in August.

This marks the 13th deployment of U.S. strategic bombers to the Korean Peninsula this year and the second aerial drill between South Korea, the United States and Japan after their first-ever one in October, which mobilized B-52H bombers.

B-1B bombers were deployed to the Korean Peninsula in February and March in response to North Korea's ICBM tests and for a joint air drill during the South Korea-U.S. "Ulchi Freedom Shield" military exercise in August.

Two U.S. B-1B strategic bombers are escorted by South Korean F-35A and American F-16 fighter jets in a joint aerial exercise over the Korean Peninsula on March 19. [DEFENSE MINISTRY]

On Monday, Pyongyang test-fired its solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM at a lofted angle toward the East Sea, a move immediately condemned by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo as having violated UN Security Council resolutions. This marked the North's fifth ICBM test this year. The Hwasong-18 is estimated to be able to travel some 15,000 kilometers, which puts the entire U.S. mainland in range.

North Korea flaunted its latest ICBM test as having been a "major success" through a front-page article of its state-run Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday. The North said the launch demonstrated its "overwhelming strength" against "hostile forces," bragging that the country had acquired the power to counter any military crises, even from a long distance, with its spy satellite and ICBMs.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, speaks during the third meeting of the Defense Innovation Committee at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Wednesday, flanked by Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, center, and National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol presided over a meeting of the defense innovation committee on Wednesday, evaluating North Korea's launch of its first military spy satellite on Nov. 21 and the test-fire of its Hwasong-18 ICBM.

"North Korea is the only country in the world that stipulates invasion and preemptive nuclear strikes in its constitution," Yoon said. "North Korea's provocations will continue according to their schedule, so we must always be fully prepared."

He called on the committee to focus on ways to "dramatically strengthen our military's surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to prepare for North Korea's nuclear and missile threats."

Yoon referred to the second meeting of the bilateral Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) with Washington earlier this month, which has been strongly protested by Pyongyang, and said it has specified a plan to strengthen integrated extended deterrence between the two countries as they work towards a "nuclear-based alliance."

He said the "foundation for close cooperation has been laid between South Korea and the United States in all decision-making processes regarding the operation of the United States' extended deterrence power," which has "greatly strengthened our role from being unilaterally protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella."

He said that shared surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities between South Korea and the United States, and also through the trilateral real-time missile warning data system with Japan, will be effective against North Korea's increasingly sophisticated nuclear missile threat.

At the private-public meeting, officials and civilian experts discussed a plan to increase the capacity to monitor the North's reconnaissance activities, related to strengthening readiness against asymmetric threats from North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles, and a plan to innovate the defense acquisition system, the presidential office said in a statement.

The South Korean government predicts that through the diversification and efficiency of the defense acquisition system, the average acquisition period for weapons systems will be reduced from the current 14 years to seven years, according to the presidential office.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]