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Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A U.S. Navy spy plane flew over South Korean airspace for two consecutive days, according to an online aviation tracker. No Callsign, a South Korea-based tracker, tweeted Thursday images of real-time movements of the EP-3E Aries II, a four-engine, electronic warfare and reconnaissance aircraft.
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The plane flew Wednesday and Thursday, traveling over the Seoul metropolitan area and the West Sea or Yellow Sea, between China and the Korean Peninsula. On Thursday, the plane flew northward toward the North Korea border, data show.
On Thursday, the online aviation tracker also published data on the U.S. Air Force's E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or Joint STARS, a ground surveillance, battle management and command-and-control aircraft.
The plane flew from the western coast of the peninsula to the West Sea, before returning to base, according to the tracker.
Joint Stars operates an AN/APY-7 radar, which can simultaneously track 600 targets at more than 150 miles. The radar can identify hidden North Korean weapons, including North Korean road-mobile launchers.
U.S. spy planes are active on the peninsula ahead of North Korea's Eighth Party Congress in January. Recent satellite imagery from 38 North showed North Korea making changes at its main square in Pyongyang that included the appearance of a "mysterious structure."
Seoul's spy agency has said North Korea plans to hold a parade during the event, according to Yonhap.
The United States also could be monitoring the South China Sea.
Golf 9, a Japan-based aircraft tracker, reported two U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bombers flew to the South China Sea on Wednesday, according to South Korean news service News 1.
The report comes after the USS John S. McCain conducted Freedom of Navigation Operation in waters China has claimed as its own.
China said earlier this week its military "expelled" the McCain from the South China Sea, but the United States has rejected the claim.
