US bomber flies near North Korean border
The United States has flown two supersonic bombers over South Korea for the second time, with one of them coming very close to the border with North Korea.
Media sources reported on Thursday that the bombers were of the B-1 type and flew over South Korea on Wednesday.
The US Pacific Command said the flight alongside the Korean demilitarized zone was the closest a B-1 has ever gotten to the border with the North.
The flyover was the second of its kind since North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test less than a fortnight ago, although aircraft did not approach the North Korean border in the previous flight.
Just days after the September 9 nuclear test, two US Rockwell B-1B Lancer bombers took off from an American base in the US Pacific territory of Guam and performed a low-altitude flight over the Osan Air Base near the South Korean capital, Seoul.
American and South Korean warplanes also escorted the B-1Bs during the low-speed flight, which took place 77 kilometers (48 miles) from the Demilitarized Zone border with the North.
Washington said the demonstration was “just one example of the full range of military capabilities” that the US possessed to counter potential threats from North Korea in the face of the latter’s nuclear and missile tests.
North Korea responded to the US demonstration of its military might by saying Washington’s provocative moves were pushing the Korean Peninsula to “the point of explosion.”
“These extremely reckless provocations of the US imperialist warmongers are pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion hour by hour,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Meanwhile, the CNN reported that US and South Korean forces are set to conduct a simulated attack on a nuclear facility next month. The two countries will also simulate military response scenarios to missile attacks, it said.
The joint military exercise, named “Red Flag,” will take place in Alaska, the US from October 3 until October 21.
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