J-20 fighter jet showcased at China Airshow. Yonhap News

China's fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, the J-20, has passed through the Korea Strait (known as the Tsushima Strait in Japan), but it appears to have gone unreported by both South Korean and Japanese militaries, reported Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 29th.

SCMP reported that China Central Television (CCTV), a Chinese state broadcaster, aired footage on the 27th in a series that included the passage of Chinese Air Force fighter jets through the Korea Strait.

According to SCMP, CCTV reported in the broadcast that the "first aviation brigade, an elite air force unit, is currently performing missions over the Bashih Strait and Tsushima Strait, and patrolling the entire Taiwan region."

CCTV did not specify when the flight took place in its report, nor did it directly mention the model of the fighter jets.

However, SCMP pointed out that the appearance of these fighter jets throughout the footage, coupled with the fact that the first aviation brigade is one of the first units to be deployed with the J-20, makes it almost certain that the J-20 carried out this mission.

SCMP reported that the Korea Strait is within the Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) of South Korea and Japan, and despite it being a strait with a dense network of surveillance from US, South Korean, and Japanese radar systems, including the US THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system, the J-20's passage through the Korea Strait was not reported to either South Korea or Japan.

Yonhap News