During a 2013 crisis with North Korea, the USA waited a month after the North’s last nuclear test before sending a nuclear-capable bomber to the peninsula.
Advertisement
Other strategic assets under consideration reportedly include a US aircraft carrier, a nuclear-powered submarine and F-22 stealth fighters.
North Korean military personnel clap hands in a rally, after North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test last week. The ministry said that right after the DPRK’s nuclear test, Hwang made emergency phone calls with his six-party-talks counterparts, noting that Seoul will make efforts to bring concerted response of the global society via such series of consultations.
Seoul also said on Monday that it would restrict access to the jointly run Kaesong industrial complex just north of the heavily militarised Korean border to the “minimum necessary level” starting from Tuesday.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said the B-52 flight was meant to underscore to South Korean allies “the deep and enduring alliance that we have with them”.
The United States, South Korea, Japan and China have been testing for airborne or ground radiation in the region but say they haven’t found any evidence supporting the claim of an H-bomb test.
The B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, heavy bomber that can fly up to 15,200 meters (50,000 feet) and has the capability to carry 31,000 kilogram (70,000 pounds) of nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance, was armed with nuclear missiles and “bunker buster” bombs while crossing South Korean territory. The B-52 that was sent to fly over the area near the DMZ, for example, came all the way from Guam and typically isn’t part of the forces normally assigned to the Korean peninsula. It usually does not publicize their training missions, but such flyovers by nuclear-capable bombers have always drawn harsh criticism from North Korea.
The country said the device it detonated in the test was a hydrogen bomb, although the claim was received with widespread skepticism.
A man watches a news report at a railroad station in Seoul on January 6, 2016, after seismologists detected a 5.1 magnitude tremor next to North Korea’s main atomic test site in the northeast of the country.
They are expected to affirm cooperation on the issue and discuss an expected U.N. Security Council resolution to strengthen worldwide sanctions on North Korea.
It was escorted by a South Korean and an American jet. A year ago the two sides exchanged artillery fire because of the loudspeakers before coming to an agreement to end further provocations; an agreement that Seoul says Pyongyang violated with its recent nuclear test.
Advertisement
Kim Jong-Un, the leader of the secretive communist state, said it was created to protect the region “from the danger of nuclear war caused by the US-led imperialists”, according to the country’s news agency.
