The United States and South Korea have put on a display
of force following North Korea’s nuclear test last week.Kim Jong Un said that the bomb was a hydrogen bomb and
was used as a self-defensive step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war.
North Korea’s fourth nuclear test angered both China, its
main ally, and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons
experts doubt the North’s claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.
In response, the U.S. deployed a B-52 bomber – capable of
carrying nuclear weapons – on a low-level flight today.The B-52, based in Guam, was flanked by two fighter
planes, a U.S. F-16 and a South Korean F-15, in a low flight over Osan Air
Base, before returning to Guam, the U.S. military said in a statement.
Osan is south of Seoul and roughly 62 miles from the
North Korean border. The flight was ‘in response to recent provocative action
by North Korea’, the U.S. military said.
‘The United States remains steadfast in its commitment to
the defense of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and to maintaining stability
on the Korean Peninsula, to include extended deterrence provided by our
conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella,’ said U.S. Lt. Gen. Terrence
O’Shaughnessy.
The United States is also considering sending a
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to waters off the Korean peninsula next month
to join a naval exercise with Seoul, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported
without identifying a source. However, U.S. Forces Korea officials said they
had no knowledge of the plan.
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