A U.S. Navy unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was reported to have flown over the Korean Peninsula, mainly focusing on the East Sea, yesterday (October 14), when North Korea test-fired submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles.

Voice of America (VOA) reported that an analysis of data from the flight tracking website Flightradar24 confirmed that an MQ-4C Triton, a U.S. Navy high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, made repeated flights over the central Korean Peninsula and the East Sea for about nine hours yesterday.

According to VOA, the Triton departed from Okinawa, Japan, at around 2:00 a.m. yesterday, Korea time, and headed north toward the Korean Peninsula.

It arrived over the waters of the South Sea around 4:00 a.m. and flew north along the West Sea, entering the airspace over the Korean Peninsula via the Ansan area in Gyeonggi Province at around 5:00 a.m.

It then made approximately 10 round trips between the central inland region and the skies over the East Sea before exiting the Korean Peninsula at around 1:00 p.m.

The Triton is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) asset operated by the U.S. Navy, designed to monitor vast maritime and coastal areas for prolonged periods.

VOA noted that the Triton had also been spotted over the Korean Peninsula several times in July.

The U.S. Army's ARES (Airborne Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare System) reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft, which gathers electronic intelligence such as communications and radar signals, was also recently found to have flown over the Korean Peninsula between the East Sea and the West Sea.

VOA reported, "It is noteworthy that flights by U.S. reconnaissance assets have repeatedly been detected in conjunction with North Korea's missile activities in several recent instances."

In response, United States Forces Korea (USFK) stated, "We remain focused on maintaining a strong, responsive, and combat-ready military posture on the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea announced today that it test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles (SLCM) in the East Sea yesterday.

Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Ryu Ji-soo | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News