Defense minister protests "failure to share exercise plans"
USFK terminates West Sea exercise early
Xavier Brunson, commander of United States Forces Korea and commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, is reported to have apologized to the South Korean side over a West Sea air exercise by USFK during which it faced off against Chinese fighter jets.
According to military sources on the 24th, Commander Brunson recently conveyed his apologies to the South Korean military authorities regarding the circumstances of the West Sea exercise that took place on the 18th and 19th.
Brunson Javier, Commander of United States Forces Korea. United States Forces Korea Headquarters, Yonhap News
At that time, United States Forces Korea conducted a large-scale exercise by scrambling F-16 fighter jets from Osan Air Base to the West Sea more than 100 times, and Chinese fighter jets also scrambled in response, leading for a time to a standoff between US and Chinese fighter jets over the West Sea.
Defense Minister Ahn Kyubaek, after receiving a report on the situation, is said to have personally lodged a protest in a phone call to Commander Brunson on the 19th. Minister Ahn reportedly protested that United States Forces Korea had not properly shared with the South Korean military authorities information about a military exercise around the Korean Peninsula that heightened military tensions.
Subsequently, Commander Brunson conveyed his apologies to the South Korean military authorities, and the exercise, which had originally been scheduled to run until the 21st of this month, was reportedly terminated early on the 19th.
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