US flies bombers over S Korea in show of force

US Force Korea said one of the two B-1B bombers landed at the Osan Air Base, 120km  from the border with North Korea, but did not specify as to when it would return to the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

Such flyovers are common when animosity rises in the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. 

The US had <g data-gr-id="13">flew</g> two B-1B bombers over South Korea on September 13 too.

“What we are showing today is just one tool that we have to choose from a wide array of options. The alliance grows stronger every day and we remain prepared to defend and to preserve the security of the Korean Peninsula and the region,” Lt. Gen. Thomas Bergeson, commander of the US 7th Air Force in South Korea, said.

North Korea uses such flyovers and the American military presence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of US hostility, which it says is the reason it needs a nuclear weapons programme. After last week’s flyover, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency accused the US of resorting to “nuclear threat and blackmail” against the North.