The United states deployed a B-52 bomber for a joint drill with its ally South Korea on Monday, in a show of force against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, South Korea’s defence ministry said.
An American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Boeing is the company that created the B-52 and has since continued to support and upgrade it. The American Air Force has been running it since 1950s.
The air drill came ahead of combined large-scale exercises including amphibious landings starting later this month.
North Korea has traditionally called for those joint exercises to be called off, branding them as a prelude to invasion.
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They have in the past drawn sharp reactions from Pyongyang including missile tests and nuclear threats, and North Korea’s foreign ministry on Sunday demanded an immediate halt to U.S. – South Korea combined military drills, saying they were raising tensions.
With denuclearisation talks stalled, North Korea conducted a record number of missile launches last year. As South Korea has lifted anti-COVID measures, the allies are returning to large-scale drills.
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South Korea and the United States will achieve “peace through strength” by stepping up joint drills, the ministry in Seoul said in a statement.
Last month, North Korea carried out an ICBM test. In response, the United States flew long-range supersonic bombers for a joint exercise with South Korean warplanes in a demonstration of strength against North Korea.
Reuters story with additional input from Global Village Space News Desk.