A file photo of a US nuclear-capable B2 stealth bomber
The
US military has deployed two nuclear-capable B2 stealth bombers over
South Korea to conduct “deterrence” mission amid escalating tension in
the Korean peninsula over North Korea’s threats of attacking its
neighbor and the US.
The two jets flew out of Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri and dropped dummy ordnance on targets in South Korea on Thursday and completed the 13000-mile round trip in a "single continuous mission," according to a press release by the US military.
"The B-2 bomber is an important element of America's enduring and robust extended deterrence capability in the Asia-Pacific region," the US statement said.
The deployment of the bombers will further inflame tensions in the region especially after infuriated North Korea threatened frequently over the past days to attack the US mainland, Hawaii and Guam as well as US military bases in South Korea and Japan.
According to a Tuesday report by the Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang has put its military on combat-ready status for possible strikes against the US.
The latest threat came a day after the US and South Korea signed a military pact allowing the allies to respond even to low-level provocations from North Korea.
“This allows both nations to jointly respond to the North's local provocations, with the South taking the lead and the US in support,” South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said on Monday.
The annual joint military maneuvers by the US and South Korea, which wrapped up on March 21, added fuel to fire in the region where UN Security Council’s sanctions on the North over its third and latest nuclear test in February had already angered Pyongyang.
Following the sanctions, unanimously approved at the 15-member council, North Korea on March 8 scrapped its decades-old peace treaty with the southern neighbor and hours later threatened to launch a nuclear strike on the US.
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