(LEAD) USFK, Chinese fighter jets in brief aerial standoff over Yellow Sea this week

▲ This Nov. 3, 2025, file photo, provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shows a F-16 fighter jet of the U.S. Forces Korea taking off with U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine aboard. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) USFK-China-fighter jets

(LEAD) USFK, Chinese fighter jets in brief aerial standoff over Yellow Sea this week

(ATTN: ADDS details, byline)

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and Chinese fighter jets were in a brief aerial standoff over the Yellow Sea earlier this week as the U.S. Air Force's rare exercise prompted the Chinese military to scramble its own fighter jets in response, sources said Friday.

Several USFK F-16 fighter jets took off from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul, late Wednesday and flew above international waters in the Yellow Sea, according to the military sources.

The F-16s reportedly flew to an area between the respective air defense identification zones of South Korea and China, prompting the Chinese military to dispatch its own fighter jets to the scene, but no clash occurred.

The USFK notified the South Korea military on its plan ahead of the exercise but apparently did not elaborate on the details, including the purpose of the drills, a source said.

Both Seoul's defense ministry and the USFK did not provide further details over the incident.

"The USFK, alongside our military, maintains a powerful combined defense posture," a ministry official said, adding the ministry cannot verify military operations involving USFK assets.

The USFK said it did not have any response to provide.

The latest drills comes amid speculation that Washington will seek to redefine the role of the USFK as it pushes to focus on countering Chinese threats while urging allies to take on greater security burdens.

The U.S. National Defense Strategy released last month signaled a possible shift in U.S. force posture in South Korea, noting that the South is capable of taking "primary" responsibility to deter the North with "critical, but more limited" U.S. support -- a shift that it says is in line with America's interest in "updating" U.S. force posture on the Korean Peninsula.

USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson has also mentioned the need for "flexibility" of the USFK as he introduced a map that puts the east at the top rather than standard north-up mapping.

"Forces already positioned on the Korean Peninsula are revealed not as distant assets requiring reinforcement, but as troops already positioned inside the bubble perimeter that the U.S. would need to penetrate in the event of crisis or contingency," he said, as he introduced the map on Nov. 17 last year.

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