2023-06-30 15:22:48
SEOUL (AP) — Nuclear-capable U.S. bombers flew over the Korean peninsula Friday in a show of force toward North Korea, which days before carried out mass acts once morest the United States in the capital.
Long-range B-52 bombers took part in aerial exercises with US and South Korean fighters over the peninsula, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. The flyby of the bombers is the latest in an interim shipment of strategic weapons by the United States to South Korea in response to the expansion of the North’s nuclear arsenal.
Two weeks ago, a nuclear-powered submarine with a capacity for 150 Tomahawk missiles sailed through South Korean waters for the first time in six years. The USS Michigan arrived the day following North Korea resumed its missile tests in protest of previous joint exercises that Pyongyang considers the test for an invasion.
The South Korean Defense Ministry indicated that the presence of the B-52s raised the visibility of US strategic weapons on the peninsula. He said it shows the allies’ firm resolve to strengthen their combined defense and that strategic bombers will continue to participate in joint exercises.
On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans took part in mass rallies in Pyongyang on the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Officials and ordinary citizens made speeches swearing “implacable revenge” once morest the United States for the war and for planning an invasion of the North.
The peninsula is technically in a state of war, as the conflict ended with an armistice, not a formal peace treaty. The United States maintains some 28,000 troops in South Korea to deter aggression from the North.
Since launching two short-range ballistic missiles on June 15, North Korea has not conducted new tests. But the presence of the bombers might spark further protest.
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