North Korea stated the US intention to attack is the reason “nuclear aircraft carriers” are being deployed “one after another”. “It was meant to bolster the ability of Japanese and USA forces to respond to situations”, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
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South Korea’s President Park called for South Korea to maintain a high-level of combat readiness to ensure that it can retaliate against a North Korean assault.
“South Korea and the USA have agreed to use all possible methods to put more pressure on North Korea”.
“China has been very clear that they understand the need for a new Security Council resolution in response to the latest nuclear test”.
This in the light of North Korea conducting its fifth and largest nuclear test on 9 September.
According to South Korea, the North is preparing for another nuclear test – a sign it has no shortage of material to do so.
But since then, Pyongyang has carried out a series of rocket launches, and on Friday detonated its biggest ever nuclear bomb.
The battle-tested B-1B bombers, flying from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, conducted a low-altitude flight over South Korea’s Osan Air Base, about 120 km from the demilitarized zone border with the North.
The two Koreas remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Furthermore, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, will visit South Korea in the near future as an added show of force. This undermines any future warnings US forces might send.
The supersonic B-1B Lancers reached airspace over the US Osan Air Base at Pyeongtaek, 64 km south of Seoul, at around 10:00 a.m. (0100 GMT).
The US with other countries sought to impose more sanctions on North Korea after its latest nuclear test, said an official on Tuesday in Seoul.
Kim, the USA envoy, said there was no need to reintroduce nuclear weapons in South Korea. 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. These issues are not new, but the North’s continued nuclear and missile testing in recent months has given them “added urgency that can not be ignored”, added Pollack.
North Korea issued a warning after the United States flew two B-1 bombers over South Korea on Tuesday. “Much more troubling for now is that its recent nuclear and missile successes may give Pyongyang a false sense of confidence and dramatically change regional security dynamics”, he wrote.
Six-nation diplomatic talks aimed at ridding the North of its bombs have been stalled since the last round of meetings in late 2008. Seoul is under pressure to rethink its hardline policy against Pyongyang, which critics say has failed to curb the regime’s nuclear ambitions.
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In January, the US flew a B-52 bomber over Osan after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.
