The U.S. military commander in South Korea apologized to the South Korean military over a standoff caused by training in the Yellow Sea.

US Forces in South Korea Commander Apologizes to South Korean Military for Solo Training Leading to US-China Aircraft Confrontation

According to Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean military source revealed on the 24th that the commander of the US Forces in South Korea and the UN Command, Xavier Brunson, apologized to the South Korean military for the military tension caused by the confrontation between US and Chinese aircraft during training in the Yellow Sea.

The report said that Brunson apologized to the South Korean military for the incident caused by the training conducted by the US Forces in South Korea from the 18th to the 19th of this month in the airspace over the Yellow Sea. During the training, the US Forces carried out large-scale solo training, with F-16 fighter jets departing from Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province to the airspace over the international waters of the Yellow Sea, with more than 100 sorties. During the training, the F-16 fighter jets entered the area between the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) and the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone (CADIZ), where the two zones do not overlap. As the US Forces' aircraft approached the Chinese air defense identification zone, the Chinese also dispatched aircraft, leading to a standoff, but neither side entered the other's air defense identification zone.

On the 19th, South Korean Minister of Defense An Guibai called Brunson after receiving relevant reports, expressing protest and condemning the US Forces in South Korea for conducting training near the Korean Peninsula without effectively sharing the details of the training with South Korea, thereby escalating the tense situation. In response, Brunson expressed his apology and canceled the aforementioned training scheduled to end on the 21st of this month earlier on the 19th.

On February 24, Ma Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated at a regular press conference that the Chinese military has legally and in accordance with regulations monitored and guarded the activities of US military aircraft in the relevant airspace of the Yellow Sea, and effectively responded and dealt with the situation.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1858058065306652/

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