Yonhap News Agency, citing unnamed military sources, on Saturday reported that 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 the stand-off last week.
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 that 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.
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The stand-off came amid an apparent shift in the focus of US troops stationed in South Korea, pivoting away from North Korea to counter China. Washington is also pushing its allies to take on a greater military role while increasing the flexibility of US forces.