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U.S. bombers fly over South Korea in show of force

Posted September. 14, 2016 07:01,   

Updated September. 14, 2016 07:16

한국어
Four days after North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, the U.S. responded back to Pyongyang Tuesday by flying the B-1B supersonic bombers over South Korean territory. The U.S. said the flight of B-1B bombers was to send a clear warning to North Korea about its nuclear provocations and to reconfirm‎ the U.S. commitment to defending the Korean Peninsula.

Taking off to Osan Air Base in South Korea in early Tuesday morning from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the two B-1B bombers were joined and escorted by other U.S. and South Korean fighters around 10 a.m. to make a low-level flyover above Osan Air Base and left the South Korean airspace. “The flight of the B-1B bombers, capable of massive conventional and nuclear attacks, over South Korean skies, only 230 kilometers south of Pyongyang, will increase North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s fear,” a South Korean military official said.

“North Korea's nuclear test is a dangerous escalation and poses an unacceptable threat,” Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, U.S. Forces Korea commander, told reporters at the press conference with Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Lee Sun-jin at Osan Air Base after the flight of the B-1B bombers. “The United States has an unshakable commitment to defend allies in the region and will take necessary steps to do so, including operations like this one today, and the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) battery to the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

“If North Korea continues nuclear developments, it will lead to self-destruction of the regime," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Lee Sun-jin told reporters. "North Korea’s provocations will be responded by strong retaliation, shaking up the foundation of its regime.”

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has also warned North Korea. “The military should be in its full combat readiness to retaliate if North Korea launches a nuclear-mounted missile to South Korean territory,” the president said during a cabinet meeting Tuesday.



윤상호군사전문기자 ysh1005@donga.com