The United States on Tuesday sent two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers streaking over ally South Korea in a show of strength meant to cow North Korea after its recent nuclear test and to also calm rattled nerves in the South.
The B-1B bombers, escorted by US and South Korean jets, were seen by an Associated Press photographer as they flew over Osan Air Base, 120km from the border with North Korea, the world’s most heavily armed frontier. The bombers are likely to return to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam without landing in South Korea.
Such flyovers are common when animosity grips the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war as there has never been a peace treaty to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War.
South Korea does not have nuclear weapons and relies on the US’s ‘N-umbrella’ as a deterrent against its neighbour. Washington has also stationed more than 28,000 troops in the South, and tens of thousands more in Japan.
North Korea is extremely concerned over the US presence on the peninsula and what it considers the American nuclear threat. It uses such flyovers and Washignton’s military influence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of US hostility. Pyongyang cites this alleged belligerence as the reason it needs a nuclear bomb programme.
Last week’s nuclear test, North Korea’s fifth, was its most powerful to date. The pariah state says it has used “standardised” warheads in the detonation. This claim makes some outsiders worry that it is making headway in its push to develop small, sophisticated warheads. These, when ready, could be mounted on missiles that can reach the US mainland.
(The article has been edited for length.)
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