US Holds Trilateral Drill With South Korea, Japan After North Korea Launches Missile Test

U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, F-16 fighter jets, South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter jets and Japanese Air Force F-2 fighter jets fly during a trilateral air drill at an undisclosed location on Nov. 3, 2024. U.S. Air Force/South Korea Defense Ministry via AP

The United States flew a long-range bomber in a trilateral drill alongside Japanese, and South Korean militaries on Nov. 3, just days after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time in nearly a year.

The training exercise saw the United States fly the B-1B bomber—a highly versatile, multi-mission weapon system capable of carrying the largest conventional weapons payload in the Air Force inventory—alongside South Korean and Japanese fighter jets near the Korean Peninsula.

It marked the second trilateral aerial training by South Korea, the United States, and Japan this year and demonstrated the three nations’ continued commitment and preparedness to respond to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile programs, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

According to South Korea’s military, it was also the fourth time this year that the United States has flown the B-1B bomber over or near the Korean Peninsula.

The latest training exercise occurred after North Korea tested its newly developed Hwasong-19 ICBM on Oct. 31, reportedly marking its most powerful and advanced missile so far.

The missile flew higher and stayed in the air longer than any missile North Korea has fired so far, reaching an altitude of 7,000 kilometers (about 4,350 miles) during a flight time of 87 minutes before landing in the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, according to Pyongyang and the militaries in Seoul and Tokyo, which monitored the missile launch in real time.

Some experts warned that the missile—which was fired almost vertically—could reach targets in the mainland United States if it were fired from a normal, flatter trajectory, although others noted that Pyongyang still needs to overcome technological issues to build functioning ICBMs that can deliver nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland.

North Korean Soldiers Deployed to Kursk

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was present when the missile was fired, according to state news agency KCNA, which branded the rocket “the world’s strongest strategic missile.”

“The new-type ICBM proved before the world that the hegemonic position we have secured in the development and manufacture of nuclear delivery means of the same kind is absolutely irreversible,” Kim told reporters in attendance at the launch, according to the news agency.

The latest launch prompted widespread condemnation from the United States, South Korea, and Japan and risked further exacerbating tensions after North Korea deployed thousands of soldiers to Russia during its ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Officials in Washington say they believe that as many as 10,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia’s Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok in recent weeks, with about 8,000 deployed to Russia’s western Kursk region and expected to start engaging in combat in the coming days.

On Nov. 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies in the West to provide additional help to Ukraine following the deployment of North Korean troops, stating that the situation will likely escalate if nations including the United States, the UK, and Germany do not provide it with much-needed long-range capabilities.

In a statement posted to the Ukrainian government’s website, Zelenskyy pointed to Pyongyang’s recent ballistic missile test, which he said had a “record flight time and sufficient altitude.”

“What connects Pyongyang and Moscow? Only their ambition for warfare,” Zelenskyy said. “Yet the world is just watching, watching as this threat grows.”

Stephen Katte, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.