Daegu: South Korea on Tuesday unveiled some of its newly purchased American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets during its Armed Forces Day ceremony, a development that will likely infuriate rival neighbour North Korea.
In its biggest weapons purchase, South Korea is to buy 40 of the F-35 fighter jets from the US-based defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin by 2021.
The first few batches of the aircraft arrived in South Korea this year.
Pyongyang has sharply reacted to the deliveries, calling them a grave provocation that violate recent inter-Korean agreements aimed at lowering military tensions.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in reviewed military planes on Tuesday in Daegu including an F-35, missiles and artillery systems displayed on the ground at the start of the ceremony.
Moon and other top officials later watched three F-35s and other warplanes flying in close formation one after another.
In a televised speech during the ceremony, Moon said that he felt 'secure about the might of our military'.
He said South Koreans would also be "very proud" of the military capacity.
Seoul previously released photos of its F-35s, but it was the first time the aircraft were shown at an official event since the first two of the planes were delivered in March, according to the state-run Defence Acquisition Program Administration.
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