The US has flown stealth fighters and advanced bombers over the Korean peninsula as a show of force in the wake of North Korea’s latest nuclear and missile tests.
Four F-35B stealth fighters and two B-1B bombers participated in the live-fire exercise to ‘demonstrate the deterrence capability of the US-South Korea alliance against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats’, South Korea’s defence ministry said.
They were the first flights since the North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3 before launching a missile over Japan last Friday and inflaming tensions in the region.
North Korea, meanwhile, said the latest round of UN sanctions imposed upon it represent ‘the most vicious, unethical and inhumane act of hostility’ and are an attempt to ‘physically exterminate the people’ living in the Stalinist autocracy.
Four F-35B stealth fighters and two B-1B bombers participated in the flight to ‘demonstrate the deterrence capability of the US-South Korea alliance against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats’, the South Korean defence ministry said. Pictured: Four US F-35Bs dropping GBU-32 bombs over the Pilsung Firing Range in Gangwon-do, South Korea
Big beast: A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber drops an MK-84 bomb during the live-fire training mission. The show of force comes after North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test and launched a missile over Japan
Hit: A bomb explodes on a target at the training ground in South Korea. The US increasing pressure on the dictatorship, with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley warning it could be ‘destroyed’ if it continues to test missiles
The US jets few alongside four South Korean F-15K jet fighters (pictured) as part of ‘routine’ training, the statement said, adding that the allies would continue such exercises to ‘improve their joint operation capabilities against contingencies’
Tensions flared again early this month when Kim Jong-Un’s regime tested what it termed a hydrogen bomb many times more powerful than its previous device. Pictured: The bombers and fighters over South Korea today
Air armada: The impressive show of force was designed to demonstrate the strength of the American-South Korean alliance against North Korea
Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-In also spoke by phone on Saturday and vowed to exert ‘stronger pressure’ on the North, with Moon’s office warning that further provocation would put it on a ‘path of collapse.’ Pictured: The planes over South Korea today
Trump’s National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said the US would ‘have to prepare all options’ if sanctions prove insufficient to stop the North’s weapons drive. Pictured: The training mission today
Pictured: U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flying with F-35B fighter jets and South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter jets
The previous such flights were on August 31, when aircraft from the two nations practised a precision-bombing mission with live shells (pictured)
The US jets flew alongside four South Korean F-15K jet fighters as part of ‘routine’ training, the statement said, adding that the allies would continue such exercises to ‘improve their joint operation capabilities against contingencies’.
Today’s flyovers charted a course across the Korean Peninsula and practised attacks by releasing live weapons at a firing range in South Korea, the U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement.
The U.S. warplanes also conducted formation training with Japanese fighter jets over waters near the southern island of Kyushu, according to the Pacific Command.
The previous such flights were on August 31, when aircraft from the two nations practised a precision-bombing mission with live shells.
North Korea said the more sanctions the United States and its allies impose on it, the faster it will move to complete its nuclear plans.
The reclusive nation’s official KCNA news agency said today the U.N. Security Council sanctions represent ‘the most vicious, unethical and inhumane act of hostility to physically exterminate the people of the DPRK, let alone its system and government’.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a U.S.-drafted resolution a week ago mandating tougher new sanctions against Pyongyang that included banning textile imports and capping.
The US is increasing pressure on the North, with its ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley warning that Pyongyang would be ‘destroyed’ if it refused to end its ‘reckless’ weapons drive.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has launched a trio of missiles in recent weeks and tested a bomb that was its most powerful to date (file photo)
This photo made available by the North Korean state news shows a test-fire of the Hwasong-14 ICBM at an undisclosed location in North Korea in July
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 missile in this undated photo released by North Korea
The subject is set to dominate US President Donald Trump’s address to the UN General Assembly and his meetings with South Korean and Japanese leaders this week.
Tensions flared again when Kim Jong-Un’s regime tested what it termed a hydrogen bomb many times more powerful than its previous device.
The North also fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific on Friday, responding to new UN sanctions over its atomic test with what appeared to be its longest-ever missile flight.
Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-In spoke by phone on Saturday and vowed to exert ‘stronger pressure’ on the North, with Moon’s office warning that further provocation would put it on a ‘path of collapse.’
Trump has also not ruled out a military option, which could leave millions of people in the South Korean capital – and 28,500 US soldiers stationed in the South – vulnerable to potential retaliatory attack.
Trump’s National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said the US would ‘have to prepare all options’ if sanctions prove insufficient to stop the North’s weapons drive.
Donald Trump has taunted ‘Rocket Man’ Kim Jong-un about the ‘long gas lines forming in North Korea’ as he claims the UN sanctions on oil are beginning to bite
The president also taunted ‘Rocket Man’ Kim Jong-un about the ‘long gas lines forming in North Korea’ as he claimed UN sanctions on oil are beginning to bite.
Trump tweeted the jibe at the dictator after he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed the escalating threat posed by North Korea Saturday night.
‘I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night,’ he tweeted. ‘Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!’
Trump tweeted the jibe at the dictator after he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed the escalating threat posed by North Korea Saturday night
State media on Saturday quoted Kim Jong-un as saying that North Korea’s final goal ‘is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option’ for the North.
Alarmed by North Korea’s advancing weapons programs, many conservatives in South Korea have called for the reintroduction of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in the South. But the liberal-leaning government of President Moon Jae-in said it has no intention of requesting that the U.S. bring back such weapons.
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo told lawmakers on Monday that it is ‘not proper’ to reintroduce U.S. nuclear weapons. He previously said the idea should be ‘deeply considered’ by the allies, inflaming already-heated debate on the issue.