The US yesterday sent a heavy bomber over South Korea in a show of force as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un insisted his country’s latest nuclear test was carried out in self-defense.
The test on Wednesday of what the North claimed was its first hydrogen bomb has sparked international alarm and raised tensions along the inter-Korean frontier, with Seoul reviving cross-border propaganda broadcasts.
The overflight saw a B-52 Stratofortress, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, briefly roar over the Osan Air Base, about 70km south of the border between the two Koreas, the US military and an eyewitness said.
Photo: AP
It was escorted by South Korean and US jets.
The B-52 conducted a low-level flight before returning to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where it is stationed.
The mission was conducted “in response to recent provocative action by North Korea,” US Forces Korea said in a statement.
The aircraft are known to have taken part in joint annual US-South Korea military exercises that have enraged Pyongyang, but their flights over South Korea are rarely publicized. The last time such a flight was made public was in 2013, after North Korea carried out its third nuclear test.
At that time, the US dispatched both a B-52 and the more sophisticated B-2 stealth bomber to South Korea in a show of military muscle against the North.
Pyongyang state media yesterday called for the establishment of a peace accord to stabilize the Korean Peninsula and described the nation’s nuclear arsenal as a “treasured sword” that defends the nation’s sovereignty.
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war because the 1950-1953 war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
“Gone are days never to return when the US could threaten the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] with nuclear weapons,” the Rodong Sinmun daily said.
Wednesday’s nuclear test was Pyongyang’s fourth, though experts have questioned North Korea’s claim of the explosion having been triggered by a hydrogen bomb.
Lieutenant General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of the US 7th Air Force and deputy commander of US Forces Korea, yesterday said that the US maintained an “ironclad” commitment to the defense of South Korea.
This commitment includes “extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella,” he said in a statement.
“B-52 missions reinforce the US’ commitment to the security of our allies and partners,” he said.
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