Anchor: South Korea and the U.S. are conducting joint air exercises, scrambling more than 130 warplanes. Simulating 24-hour wartime operations, the "Vigilant Defense" air drills will run through Friday.
Kim Bum-soo has more.

Report: Featuring F-35 stealth fighters as well as key warplanes of South Korea and the U.S., the annual "Vigilant Defense" air exercise is under way over and around the Korean Peninsula.
 
Mobilizing around 130 military aircraft, the aerial drills kicked off on Monday in an effort to ensure air supremacy in the region.

The South Korean military said the drills will provide intensive training simulating actual situations.

[Sound bite: Park Yoon-suh - Air Force Public Affairs (Oct. 30)]
"[The South Korean and U.S. air forces] plan to improve integrated operational capabilities between their fourth and fifth generation fighters, and ensure interoperability of their fifth generation fighters."  

The South Korean Air Force currently operates 40 fifth-generation F-35s and is planning to purchase 25 more in a five billion-dollar deal the U.S. State Department approved in September.
 
Joining from U.S. air bases in Japan and the mainland are F-35, F-16, and A-10 fighters and other attack aircraft. The South Korean Air Force is flying its own F-35s as well as airborne early warning and control aircraft to jointly conduct air-to-surface live fire drills among other emergency exercises.

Previous air drills in the South have often been met with provocations by the North, such as a test firing of multiple short-range ballistic missiles in response to last year's "Vigilant Storm" drills.

This year's Vigilant Defense will run through Friday. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.