South Korea shows its US-made F-35 stealth jets for 1st time

South Korea showcased their newly acquired F-35 stealth fighter jets on Tuesday to mark Armed Forces Day as South Korean President Moon Jae-in tried to allay concerns that his policy of engagement with North Korea would weaken the South’s commitment to defense, reports Reuters.

"A South Korean fighter jet conducted a patrol flight over islands at the center of a bitter dispute with Japan." President Moon said at an event marking the founding of the South Korean military.

He said a South Korean F-15K jet patrolled over the disputed islets called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, which are controlled by Seoul and claimed by both countries, a move that could inflame already strained ties between the two. 

“Just a moment ago, the F-15K, the most powerful fighter-bomber in Northeast Asia, has returned from completing a patrol mission over our land Dokdo without any problems.”President Moon said in an address to the military.

South Korean government officials had protested against Tokyo’s annual defense review on Friday which made a reference to Japan owning the islands. South Korea’s foreign ministry summoned a military official at the Japanese embassy in Seoul to demand an immediate retraction.

South Korea and Japan have been locked in a worsening diplomatic and trade row rooted in wartime history and disagreements over compensation for forced laborers during Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.

After Japan tightened its curbs on exports of high-tech materials vital to South Korea’s chip and display industries in July, both countries have removed each other from fast-track trade status.

In July, a Russian military aircraft twice violated airspace over the disputed islands and drew hundreds of warning shots from South Korean jets, officials of South Korea said during what Russia said was a long-range joint air patrol with China.

Japan, which said it also scrambled fighter aircraft at the time, lodged a complaint with both South Korea and Russia over the incident.

The islands had 28 South Korean residents as of Tuesday, according to the South Korean police.

F-35 deliveries

President Moon marked Armed Forces Day at a ceremony at an airbase in the city of Daegu where four of the eight Lockheed Martin F-35A jets delivered this year were displayed. Forty of the aircraft will be delivered by 2021.

He made no direction mention of Japan, or North Korea, in his address, but said today’s security climate was highly unpredictable, requiring strength as well as innovation.

“As the recent drone attack in the Middle East region demonstrated to the world, the challenges that we will face will be entirely different from those of the past." President Moon said.

North Korea has criticized the South’s weapons' procurements and its joint military drills with the US military as undisguised preparations for war that are forcing it to develop new short-range missiles.

President Moon has thrown his support behind dialogue to end the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, urging that working-level negotiations between the North and the United States be held soon. No new dates or locations have been set.

Analysts have said the F-35 stealth jets put North Korea’s anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems in a vulnerable position.