Seoul, Washington discuss joint air power operations

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States on Friday held a meeting of their top air force commanders to discuss the allies' combined air power operations, according to the Air Force.

Some 100 senior commanders from the two allies attended the 2016 Air Bose Conference and talked about ways to operate air power in case of a regional conflict on the Korean Peninsula, the Air Force Operations Command said in a statement.

The meeting was held at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek some 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

U.S. commanders from the Seventh Air Force in Korea and from Washington, Hawaii and Japan accounted for half of the participants in the annual meeting, it said.

"Participants jointly analyzed the latest military threats from the enemy (North Korea) and exchanged views on the best way to operate the air power of the two allies," the statement said.

The two allies began the conference in 1992 with the aim of drawing up strategies to counter North Korean attacks and share effective ways to carry them out, it said.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula remain high due to continued military threats from the North. In its latest provocations, Pyongyang test-fired three ballistic missiles in an apparent protest against Seoul's decision to allow an advanced U.S. antimissile system in the country by 2017.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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