Seoul’s protest over stand-off seen as reluctance to let US Forces Korea confront China
South Korean complaint highlights growing difficulty in balancing ties with both security ally US and top trading partner China: analyst
According to a Yonhap News Agency report on Saturday citing unnamed military sources, South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back lodged a complaint with General Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea (USFK), “immediately” after receiving a report of last week’s stand-off.
The report said USFK had notified South Korea of its plan ahead of the exercise but had not offered details about the drills.
The incident was reported to have taken place on Wednesday and involved around 10 US F-16 fighters. The jets took off from Osan Air Base, about 65km (40 miles) south of Seoul, and flew west over the Yellow Sea as part of a training operation.
As the F-16s approached China’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), Beijing scrambled its own fighter jets in what South Korean media described as a “brief” face-off.
China confirmed the incident on Tuesday. “The Chinese military tracked and monitored their activities and stayed on alert throughout the process, and responded to the situation in accordance with laws and regulations,” Mao Ning, a spokeswoman with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a regular press conference in Beijing.