The United States sent two B-52 nuclear bombers to fly in skies near South Korea last month, military officials said Sunday, a move seen as a display of force against North Korea.
The U.S. strategic bombers from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam conducted flights in skies near the Korean Peninsula and Japan between June 13 and 20, the officials said.
 |
(yonhap) |
The move was part of the U.S. Air Force's efforts to check its military capacity in the Asia-Pacific region, they added.
In January the U.S. flew its strategic bunker-busting B-52 bomber across the skies of South Korea in response to North Korea's fourth nuclear test.
The B-52 Stratofortress, armed with long-range nuclear air-to-ground missiles, conducted a low-level flight over the U.S. Osan Base, some 55 kilometers south of the capital Seoul.
The June flight of the B-52 bombers appeared to be detected by North Korea.
Pyongyang insisted that a formation of B-52s was busy conducting a "nuclear bomb-dropping drill" on June 17.
On June 23, North Korea claimed the successful launch of what it called a Hwasong-10 intermediate range ballistic missile, known as the Musudan missile to other countries, saying that it has the capacity to strike U.S. forces in the Pacific region. (Yonhap)
