The U.S. and South Korea stepped up the saber rattling this week in response to North Korea’s launch of an ICBM over Japanese airspace earlier in the week.
In a joint air training mission, U.S. and South Korean nuclear bombers ran multiple test missions along the border with North Korea in a show of force.
The mission simulated what a surgical airstrike might look like should the allies decide to make a preemptive or responsive strike on strategic targets within Kim Jong Un’s arsenal.
Many critics had denounced both the Pentagon and Japan for not moving quickly to strike down N. Korea’s ICBM test.
So this bombing run was seen as the logical answer to that criticism.
The question now is whether Kim will respond in kind with yet another test over allied waters or even in the vicinity of Guam.
This week could get interesting before it’s over.
Here’s more from The Sun…
THE US staged its own terrifying show of strength today by dropping huge bombs near the North Korean border – days after Kim Jong-un’s latest missile outrage.
Four US F-35B fighter jets joined two nuclear-ready US B-1B bombers and four South Korean F-15 fighter jets in the joint military operation over the troubled Korean Peninsula.
The exercise was designed to “strongly counter North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile tests and development of nuclear weapons,” a South Korean official told CNN.
In a statement, the US air force said its bombers flew out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and four stealth fighter jets from a US Marine Corps base in Japan.
They conducted a shocking bombing attack, which simulated a surgical strike of key enemy facilities, over the Pilseung Range in the eastern province of Gangwon – which neighbours North Korea.
The sabre rattling drill followed North Korea’s latest weapons test – which was the first ballistic missile fired OVER Japan.
North Korea has been test-firing missiles at a rapid clip this year. With each launch, experts fear Kim’s military can further refine and perfect its missile technology.
The bomber flights have becomes a common response to North Korean actions but the dropping off bombs is seen as an escalation by the US.
B-1Bs flew over the Korean Peninsula following both of Pyongyang’s recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the type of weapons designed to deliver nuclear warheads to far-off locations like the mainland United States.
The bombers flew from Guam, the closest US territory to North Korea and the target of North Korean threats in recent weeks.
