S.Korea, U.S. Stage Drills in Warning to N.Korea

The U.S. staged an aerial show of force by scrambling several dozen stealth fighters at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska last Friday, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Monday.

The so-called "elephant walk" coincided with the South Korean military's similar exercise the same day, just a day after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the first since November 2017.

The elephant walk refers to the close formation of military aircraft before takeoff.

The coinciding drills of the South Korean and U.S. militaries can be seen as part of concerted efforts to suppress further provocations by North Korea, as well as a response to its latest ICBM launch.

But a military spokesman here said, "There was no coordination with the U.S. to conduct the same exercise on the same day."

Meanwhile, the top military brass of South Korea, Japan and the U.S. will hold a meeting in Hawaii on Thursday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said Tuesday.

They are expected to asses military preparedness and discuss countermeasures against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. With last week's missile launch, the North officially scrapped a moratorium on ICBM and nuclear tests it declared in 2018.