Rival Koreas scramble jets

SOUTH Korea has scrambled about 80 military aircraft, including advanced F-35 fighter jets, after tracking about 180 flights by North Korean warplanes inside North Korean territory in what appeared to be a defiant show of strength.

North Korea’s mobilisation of warplanes came after it test-fired around 30 ballistic missiles over the previous two days, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday that triggered evacuation warnings in Japan, in an angry response to ongoing joint exercises by hundreds of US and South Korea military planes.

Later Friday, North Korea’s foreign ministry called its military actions this week an appropriate response to the joint exercises, which it described as a display of US “military confrontation hysteria”. It said North Korea will respond with the “toughest counteraction” to any attempts by “hostile forces” to infringe on its sovereignty or security interests.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North Korean warplanes were detected in various areas inland and along the country’s eastern and western coasts, but did not come that close to the Koreas’ border. The South Korean military spotted about 180 flight trails, but it was not clear how many North Korean planes were involved.