The United States on Monday flew advanced bombers and stealth jets over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force three days after North Korea’s latest missile launch over Japan, AFP reported, quoting South Korea’s defence ministry.

The military drills involved two B-1B bombers and four F-35B stealth fighters from the US and four South Korean fighter jets. The planes flew across the peninsula and released live weapons at a firing range in South Korea, the US Pacific Command said in a statement.

The warplanes also conducted formation training with Japanese fighter jets over water near Kyushu island.

The missile North Korea fired on Friday had flown over Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean. The test came a day after Pyongyang threatened to “reduce the United States to ashes and darkness” and “sink Japan into the sea” using nuclear weapons.

“For those who have been commenting on a lack of a military option, there is a military option,” White House National Security Advisor HR McMaster had said in response.

North Korea had launched the missile in protest against fresh sanctions by the United Nations following its nuclear test on September 3. The country had earlier tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.