Seoul, Oct 4 (IANS): A South Korean F-15K fighter fired two JADAM precision bombs at a firing range on a Yellow Sea island on Tuesday, in response to North Korea's intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch earlier in the day, the military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the F-15K dropped the Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs at a target in the range on the uninhabited island of Jikdo following air drills with US warplanes in a combined strike package.

The strike package consisted of four F-15Ks and four US F-16 fighters.

"Through the combined flight of the air strike package and precision strike drills, South Korea and the United States demonstrated their will to respond sternly to any Northern threats as well as their capabilities to conduct a precision strike at the origin of provocations based on the alliance's overwhelming forces," the JCS said in a press release.

The North fired an IRBM from Mupyong-ri in its northern province of Jagang in its first launch of an IRBM in eight months. The missile flew some 4,500 kilometres at an apogee of around 970 km at a top speed of Mach 17, according to the JCS.