Wave of major military exercises ahead of UN talks on N Korea

BEIJING/SEOUL: The US military staged bombing drills with South Korea over the Korean peninsula and Russia and China began naval exercises ahead of a UN General Assembly meeting today, where North Korea’s nuclear threat is likely to loom large.

The flurry of military drills came after Pyongyang fired another mid-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday and the reclusive North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3 in defiance of UN sanctions and other international pressure.

A pair of US B-1B bombers and four F-35 jets flew from Guam and Japan and joined four South Korean F-15K fighters in the latest drill, South Korea’s defence ministry said.

The joint drills were being conducted “two to three times a month these days”, Defence Minister Song Young-moo told a parliamentary hearing yesterday.

China and Russia began naval drills off the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok, not far from the Russia-North Korea border. The drills are the second part of China-Russian naval exercises this year: the first part was staged in the Baltic in July.

China and Russia have repeatedly called for a peaceful solution and talks to resolve the issue. On Sunday, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the UN Security Council had run out of options on containing North Korea’s nuclear programme and the US might have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the most pressing task was for all parties to enforce the latest UN resolutions on North Korea fully, rather than “deliberately complicating the issue”.

Military threats have not promoted a resolution to the issue, he said.