The United States sent a bomber to Northeast Asia on Sunday for a trilateral air exercise with its allies after North Korea tested a new nuclear ballistic missile.

The allied exercise, which also involved South Korea and Japan, came after North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un watched the launch of a Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, the country's largest missile and longest nuclear missile test .

While the missile flew on a steep vertical trajectory to avoid other countries' sovereign airspace, Japan estimated that the Hwasong-19 is capable of flying over 9,320 miles, which if launched on a normal trajectory could result in a nuclear strike could trigger the continental US.

Both South Korea and Japan are not nuclear armed. They are under the protection of the U.S. extended deterrence system, also known as the nuclear umbrella, Washington's commitment to deter and respond to nuclear and non-nuclear scenarios in defense of Seoul and Tokyo.

A U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber, also known as a Lancer, was dispatched from its home station at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to the airspace east of South Korea's Jeju Island, which is south of the Korean Peninsula and west of Japan Main island of Kyushu.

The B-1B is one of three American long-range bombers in service, but unlike the B-2 Spirit and the B-52H Stratofortress, it cannot carry nuclear weapons. However, it carries a conventional weapons load of 75,000 pounds, the largest in the Air Force's inventory.

After a transpacific flight, the American bomber rendezvoused with four Japanese F-2 fighter jets, four South Korean F-15K fighter jets, as well as three US F-16 fighter jets on forward deployment to South Korea for a trilateral escort flight of the bomber.

The US military claimed that this exercise enables an immediate response to regional security challenges in a critical security environment. “Our three nations remain unconditionally committed to the shared vision of a secure, rules-based and open Indo-Pacific region,” the US Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.

The South Korean military said the American bomber demonstrated its “overwhelming” ability to attack a simulated target during the exercise without live fire.

It also clarified that the bombing exercise was conducted in response to the launch of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile, and pledged that Seoul would strengthen and expand its security coordination with Washington and Tokyo to deter and jointly respond to threats from Pyongyang.

According to Japanese media, this was the fourth time that the US military stationed its bombers on the Korean Peninsula. The previous three events occurred on April 2, June 5 and October 1 and involved the B-1B Lancer and B-52H Stratofortress.

After the exercise ended on Sunday, the American bomber turned around and flew back home. According to military aircraft tracking authorities, two bombers were scheduled for the exercise, but one of them returned to South Dakota midway through, likely due to problems.