(VOVworld) - South Korea and the US began their largest-ever joint air drill named “Max Thunder” on Thursday to enhance their air force collaboration.

Flight deck crew signal a US Navy F-18 jet fighter on the deck of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during a joint military exercise with South Korea

The twice-yearly exercise involving more than 100 aircraft and 1,400 troops will continue until the end of April. Both nations are also holding two annual exercises called Key Resolve and Foal Eagle which will continue from late February until next Friday. The exercises are taking place amid growing tension on the Korean peninsula.  In response to the exercises, Pyongyang launched several tests of short-and-medium-range missiles in recent weeks. Tensions continued to rise when the two Koreas fired hundreds of artillery shells across their disputed western sea border on March 31^st . Pyongyang has also warned that it might carry out a "new" form of nuclear test

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