The United States deployed stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday as part of an ongoing joint military exercises between the two countries, a senior U.S. defense official said, as reported by MyFOX8.com. The F-22 Raptor jets were sent to the main U.S. Air Force Base in South Korea amid rising tension - and bellicose language and symbolic threats- from Kim Jong-un in the North.
The U.S. military command in South Korea said they were deployed to support air drills as part of the annual Foal Eagle training exercises, which have been carried out in accordance with the armistice that put an end armed hostilities in 1953.
In a rare U.S. show of force aimed at North Korea, the United States last Thursday flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over South Korea. The next day, Kim signed an order putting the North's missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific.
The F-22 jets will take part in the annual U.S.-South Korea Foal Eagle military drills, which are designed to sharpen the allies' readiness to defend the South from an attack by North Korea, the U.S. military said.
Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted the top Japanese government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, as condemning Pyongyang for "aggressive provocation" after Kim's ruling party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, identified U.S. military bases in Japan as targets for attack.
Despite its threats, few international affairs experts see any indication Pyongyang will risk a near-certain defeat by re-starting full-scale war. As an official told a TV station last week, "North Korea is in a mindset of war, but North Korea is not going to war."
