North fears raptor­s may be used for surgic­al strike­sSEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: American F-22 stealth fighter jets have arrived in South Korea ahead of a joint air force drill, Seoul said Wednesday, despite a recent diplomatic thaw with Pyongyang. The ‘Raptor’ fighters previously flew to the South in December when Seoul and Washington staged their largest-ever joint air exercise, days after North Korea test-fired a missile believed capable of hitting the US mainland. Pakistan hails historic summit between North and South KoreaThe confirmation came after local newspapers said eight F-22 jets arrived on Sunday at a military airbase in the southern city of Gwangju. “Max Thunder is a regular exercise that has been on the docket long before a planned US-North Korea summit”, the South’s Defence Ministry said in a statement. Chosun suggested the arrival of F-22 jets could also be aimed at bolstering security in case the North Korea-US summit takes place at Panmunjom.

Source: The Express Tribune May 02, 2018 05:15 UTC