As part of a significant joint air exercise between the two nations on Saturday, tensions in Asia erupted when the United States flew a supersonic bomber over the territory of its ally South Korea.
Operation Vigilant Storm, formerly known as Operation Vigilant Ace, was a massive four-day training exercise that involved hundreds of American and South Korean warplanes
The mission of the exercise was to send a clear message to North Korea following its recent launches of several ballistic missiles,
including several intercontinental ballistic missiles that made landfall in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone.
Toshiro Ino, Japan's deputy defense minister, claimed that since making an extremely provocative statement earlier in the day, North Korea "has rapidly escalated its provocations,"
launching more than a dozen missiles today alone and allegedly firing more than 100 artillery shells into the Sea of Japan.