U.S., South Korea begin largest-Ever joint Air Drill

The U.S., South Korea on Monday kicked off their largest ever joint air exercise an operation North Korea has labelled an all-out provocation days after Pyongyang fired its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. The five day Vigilant Ace drill involving 230 aircraft, including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters, and tens of thousands of troops began on Monday morning. The annual exercise comes five days after the nuclear armed North test fired a new ICBM, Which it says brings the whole of the United States within range. The isolated and impoverished North has staged six increasingly powerful atomic tests since 2006 most recently in September. The month’s long nuclear standoff between Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump as well as their trading of personal insults has fueled concerns of another conflict more than six decades after 1950-53 Korean War that left much of the peninsula in ruins. But even some Mr. Trump advisers say US. Military options are limited when Pyongyang could launch an artillery barrage on the South Korea capital Seoul only around 50 kilometers from the heavily fortified border and home to 10 million people.