SOUTH KOREA - US LAUNCH AIR DRILLS

Seoul/Beijing : The United States and South Korea went ahead with large scale joint aerial drills lat Monday, a move-

North Korea had said would push the Korean Peninsula to ''the brink of nuclear war,'' ignoring calls from Russia and China to call them off.

The drill comes a week after North Korea said it had tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States-

As a part of weapons programme that it had conducted in defiance of international sanctions and condemnation.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it was  ''regrettable'' that all parties had not  ''grasped the window of opportunity'' presented by two months of relative calm before the North's most recent test.

China and Russia had proposed that the United States and South Korea stop major military exercises in the exchange for North Korea halting its weapon programmes.

Beijing formally calls the idea the ''dual suspension'' proposal.

The annual US-South Korean drill, called Vigilant Ace, will run until Friday with six F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to be deployed among the more than 230 aircraft taking part.

North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country called US President Donald Trump ''insane'' on Sunday and said the drills would ''push the already acute situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.

F-35 fighters will also join the drills, which will include the largest number of 5th generation fighters ever to have taken part, according to a South Korea based US Air Force spokesman.

Around 12,000 US service members, including from the Marines and Navy, will join South Korean troops.