U.S. B-1 bomber, center, flies over Osan Air Base with U.S. jets in Pyeongtaek
The United States on yesterday sent two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers streaking over ally South Korea in a show of force meant to cow North Korea after its recent nuclear test, and also to settle rattled nerves in the South.
The B-1B bombers, escorted by U.S. and South Korean jets, were seen by an Associated Press photographer as they flew over Osan Air Base, which is 120 kilometers from the border with North Korea, the world’s most heavily armed. The bombers were likely to return to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam without landing in South Korea.
Such flyovers are fairly common when animosity rises on the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war because there has never been a peace treaty to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War.
South Korea does not have nuclear weapons and relies on the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” as a deterrent to North Korea. Washington also stations more than 28,000 troops in the South, and tens of thousands more in Japan.
The B-1B doesn’t currently carry nuclear weapons under a disarmament treaty, but the United States has yet to convert the B-1s to non-nuclear heavy bombers using treaty procedures, according to a 2016 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service. U.S. Forces Korea wouldn’t comment on the bombers’ capabilities, but South Korean military officials and analysts said that they could carry nuclear weapons if reconfigured.
North Korea is keenly aware of the U.S. presence on the peninsula and of what it considers the U.S. nuclear threat. It uses such flyovers and the American military influence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of U.S. hostility that it says is the reason it needs a nuclear bomb program.
Last week’s nuclear test, the North’s fifth, was its most powerful to date. Pyongyang’s claim to have used “standardized” warheads in the detonation makes some outsiders worry that it is making headway in its push to develop small, sophisticated war. AP
No Comments