South Korea's presidential Blue House said Monday that the country had consulted with the United States in advance on the flight of U.S. strategic bombers and fighter escorts in the international airspace last weekend near the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
A Blue House official told local reporters that President Moon Jae-in was briefed on consultations on the flights on a real-time basis during his stay in New York last week, saying the close consultation between South Korea and the United States was reported to President Moon.
B-1B strategic bombers from the U.S. Pacific island of Guam and F-15C fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan flew in the international airspace over the waters off the east coast of the DPRK Saturday night, according to media reports.
It was an apparent show of force to the DPRK as the war of words was resumed between Pyongyang and Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump said in his debut speech to the United Nations that his country would have no choice but to "totally destroy" the DPRK if Pyongyang continues to threaten the United States and its allies.
The Blue House official was quoted as saying that the flight operation of U.S. bombers and fighter jets were closely consulted on by South Korea and the United States in advance, and that it was conducted in close cooperation, which means an agreement between the two sides.
President Moon made a four-day trip to New York last week to attend the UN General Assembly and held summit meetings with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
After coming back to South Korea, Moon on Sunday convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting attended by ministers of foreign affairs, defense and unification as well as key presidential secretaries and spy agency chief.
