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Seoul mobilizes its air force after detecting a large deployment of 180 North Korean planes

Seoul mobilizes its air force after detecting a large deployment of 180 North Korean planes

The South Korean army mobilized dozens of combat aircraft on Friday after identifying a large deployment of North Korean aircraft, which in the last two days has launched some 30 missiles to respond to large air maneuvers by Seoul and Washington.

"Our army took action after identifying some 180 flight contrails of North Korean military aircraft between 11:00 and 15:00 (3:00-7:00 a.m., Spanish time) this Friday, November 4," the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"The Air Force of the Republic of Korea (the official name of the South) quickly mobilized its superior resources, including 80 F-35A units," explained the text, which added that some 240 aircraft participating in the joint exercises with the US Vigilant storm they maintain a "vigilant posture" while performing the aforementioned maneuvers.

Stress week

The detection of the North Korean aircraft comes after Pyongyang launched around 30 projectiles between Wednesday and Thursday.

One of them, a long-range ballistic missile (ICBM), apparently failed in mid-flight as it was about to fly over Japan, while another short-range missile landed very close to South Korean territorial waters, something that had never happened before.

In retaliation for these launches, the allies have announced that the exercises, which involve some 240 aircraft and were to end this Friday, will last until Saturday.

The vigilant storm is the largest combined South Korea-US air exercise since 2017 and includes the mobilization of F-15, F-16, EA-18G fighters (the version of the F-18 fighter-bomber adapted for electronic warfare scenarios), F -35A and F-35B, which unlike the F-35A can perform short takeoffs and vertical takeoffs and landings.

It is the first time that the Pentagon has flown F-35B units into South Korean territory, a factor that may have especially angered Pyongyang, which on Tuesday already threatened to respond forcefully to these war games.

Tension on the peninsula is reaching unprecedented heights in the face of repeated North Korean weapons tests, allied maneuvers, and the possibility that, as satellites indicate, Kim Jong-un's regime is ready for its first test nuclear since 2017.