US sends bombers, fighter jets to S. Korea

The US military on Thursday sent strategic bombers and stealth fighter jets to South Korea for a joint bomb-dropping drill.

Two American B-1B strategic bombers and four F-35B stealth combat planes were dispatched from Guam and the US military base in Japan respectively, reports Xinhua news agency.

The US combat aircraft conducted a joint flight drill with four South Korean F-15K fighter jets over the peninsula, before dropping MK-84, MK-82 and GBU-32 bombs on a target at the Pilseung firing range in Gangwon province.

The KC-135 aerial refueling plane was also dispatched for the drill.

The South Korean air force said the drills were carried out to counter North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches and its nuclear development.

The air exercises came two days after Pyongyang fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile called Hwasong-12 over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

--IANS

ksk/vt