Two B-1B supersonic strategic bombers belatedly arrived in skies over the US air base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul on Thursday morning.
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(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man). South Korean shout slogans during a rally denouncing North Korea’s latest nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016.
South Korea does not have nuclear weapons and relies on the U.S.
Reports state that the supersonic B-1B Lancers reached airspace at 10:00 a.m. over the United States Osan Air Base at Pyeongtaek, which is 64 kilometres south of Seoul.
The B-1s, at their first deployment to Andersen Air Force Base in a decade, have brought years of repeated combat and operational experience from the Central Command theater to the Pacific.
The mission carried by the B-1s is just the latest in a series of similar missions carried out over South Korea to flex muscles against Pyongyang: in the past, B-52s and B-2s have performed similar flyovers, whereas Elephant Walks are regularly staged at South Korean airbases, involving both local and US combat planes.
While it’s unclear if the bombers will have nuclear arms aboard or not, officials were very clear the overflight is a direct reaction to North Korea’s conducting of a nuclear test explosion last week. U.S. Forces Korea wouldn’t comment on the bombers’ capabilities, but South Korean military officials and analysts said that they could carry nuclear weapons if reconfigured. It uses such flyovers and the American military influence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of US hostility that it says is the reason it needs a nuclear bomb program.
THAAD is a sophisticated U.S. missile defence system.
Pyongyang’s fifth nuclear test was the latest in a series of provocations by the regime, which fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on 24 August that flew about 500 km in what was probably its most successful SLBM test launch to date.
Six-nation diplomatic talks aimed at ridding the North of its bombs have been stalled since the last round of meetings in late 2008.
“North Korea’s nuclear test is a unsafe escalation and poses an unacceptable threat”, said Gen Brooks.
Seoul, Washington and their allies have vowed to apply more pressure and sanctions after the test, the second this year. Strengthened sanctions on Pyongyang haven’t discouraged Kim Jong Un from building up a nuclear program.
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President Obama issued a strong condemnation, calling North Korea’s actions “provocative and destabilizing”, and assured US allies in the region of Washington’s “unshakable commitment” to their defense.
