Kim Jong-un insisted that North Korea must be recognized as a country with nuclear status.
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“North Korea’s nuclear test represents a risky escalation and poses an unacceptable threat”, Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea and the combined forces, said on the tarmac after the morning flyover at Osan Air Base. The United States has flown nuclear-capable supersonic bombers over ally South Korea in a show of force meant.
“Today’s demonstration provides just one example of the full range of military capabilities in the deep resources of this strong alliance to provide and strengthen extended deterrence”, said General Vincent Brooks, US-South Korea Combined Forces Command.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry said there was no change in its policy barring nuclear weapons.
“Assessment by South Korean and USA intelligence is that the North is always ready for an additional nuclear test in the Punggye-ri area”, the site of all five nuclear explosions, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a news briefing.
Such flyovers are common during higher-than-normal animosity on the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war as there has never been a peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Guam-based bombers trained with Japanese aircraft, which later conducted a hand-off in global airspace with South Korean fighter jets, according to a statement from the U.S. Forces Japan. It uses such flyovers and the U.S. military influence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of United States hostility that it claims as the reason it needs a nuclear bomb program.
The United States and South Korea are pushing for more sanctions against Pyongyang to close loopholes left in a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted in March.
Sung Kim, the US special envoy for North Korean policy, met South Korean officials in Seoul on Tuesday and said that Washington is working closely with other nations to work out new, stronger sanctions on North Korea.
The flight came after the North on Friday carried out what it described as a “nuclear warhead test” and vowed to take further measures to increase its nuclear strike force “in quality and in quantity”.
“They have done more testing both of nuclear weapons and of missiles in recent months in a way that has the world’s attention clearly focused, and we will continue to sharpen financial tools as we can”, he said.
Worldwide diplomatic efforts to rid the North of its bombs have been stalled since the last round of meetings in late 2008.
Flooding from heavy rain in North Korea has killed 133 people in its northeast while 395 are missing, with many homes and critical infrastructure destroyed, a United Nations agency said on Monday.
Also on Tuesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye ordered her military to be ready to “finish off” North Korea if it fires a nuclear missile toward South Korea.
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US Forces Korea commander general Vincent K. Brooks said that North Korea’s blatant disregard for its global obligations, demands ROK and US forces continue to enhance military readiness to take actions as directed to deter North Korea.
