On the same day as a North Korean missile launch, American B-1B strategic bombers are conducting training exercises with South Korea.

US strategic bombers took part in joint air drills with South Korean forces on Sunday, the same day as North Korea carried out a suspected ballistic missile test. The exercise featured US B-1B strategic bombers, F-35A stealth fighters from the South Korean Air Force and F-16 fighters of the US Air Force, and was part of the Freedom Shield joint exercise. The South Korean Defense Ministry would not confirm if the air training drill with the US bombers took place before or after the missile launch. The suspected ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Sunday reached a maximum altitude of approximately 50km (31 miles) and flew a distance of approximately 800km (497 miles). It was fired from the Dongchang-ri area of North Pyongan province in North Korea and landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the South Korean military.

The Japan Coast Guard cautioned all vessels to await further information and to not approach fallen objects. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military had strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional launches "while maintaining a full readiness posture through close cooperation with the US." North Korea often responds to what it views as "provocations" by the US by making bellicose threats.
Sunday's missile launch by North Korea was condemned by the Japanese and South Korean governments as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The launch follows a flurry of missile tests by North Korea, including one of a long-range ballistic missile on Thursday as leaders from South Korea and Japan met in Tokyo, and the firing of two cruise missiles from a submarine and two short-range ballistic missiles days before. The springtime joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea are the biggest war games the allies have staged in five years, and North Korea has threatened to take the "toughest counteraction against the most vicious plots of the US and its followers." On Saturday, North Korea claimed about 800,000 of its citizens had volunteered to join or reenlist in the nation's military to fight against the United States. North Korea has also taken exception to US President Joe Biden's plan to host Yoon and his wife at the White House next month. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told CNN that in response to the drills and the summits, Pyongyang might "order missile firings of longer ranges, attempt a spy satellite launch, demonstrate a solid-fuel engine, and perhaps even conduct a nuclear test."