Russian military planes enter South Korean air defence zone amid rising tensions with North Korea: What's happening
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Russian military planes enter South Korean air defence zone amid rising tensions with North Korea: What's happening")
US B-52H bombers, South Korean KF-16s and Japanese F-2s fly in formation during a joint drill off Jeju. Photograph: (AFP)
South Korea scrambled fighter jets after Russian military aircraft entered its air defence zone, marking the second such incident in weeks. The latest incursion comes amid worsening ties between Seoul and Moscow over South Korea’s sanctions on Russia and Moscow’s closer ties with North Korea
South Korea on Wednesday (Aug 26) said that Russian military aircraft entered its air defence zone in second such incursion in weeks. Seoul said that it scrambled fighter jets in response to the incursion. The relationship between the countries has worsened since South Korea joined Western sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow building stronger ties with North Korea.
Seoul's defence ministry said that multiple Russian aircraft had entered and then left its air defence identification zone over the East Sea, also called the Sea of Japan. "South Korea's military detected the Russian aircraft before they entered the zone and deployed Air Force fighter jets to prepare for any contingency," it said, without giving details. The Russian aircraft did not violate South Korean airspace, it said. An air defence identification zone is not sovereign airspace but a buffer area where countries require foreign aircraft to identify themselves for security purposes.
In late June, more than 10 Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered South Korea's air defence zone. Beijing's defence ministry said that the time that Chinese and Russian forces had conducted a "strategic air patrol" over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean. Russia's defence ministry had said that the patrol was part of normal military cooperation plans and "not directed against third countries". However, South Korea still lodged protests with Beijing and Moscow and demanded measures to prevent a recurrence.
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This also comes at a time Trump on Aug 17 "substantially reduce" US-S Korea joint military exercises, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. He also added that South Korea had recently declined to join the US in the "denuclearisation" of Iran. He said that these exercise costs a lot to the US. He also hinted at talks with Kim. He also said that Kim Jong Un has always treated him with “great respect."
