Trump warns North Korea’s Kim with US B-1B bomber exercise
The United States on Thursday sent two supersonic bombers to the Korean Peninsula for a joint aerial drill with its South Korean ally as a warning to the nuclear-armed North Korea.
The North Korean Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why It Matters
The White House in January said that the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea remains President Donald Trump‘s priority. However, Kim Jong Un, the North’s leader, refused to give up his nuclear weapons and vowed to expand the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
Washington and Seoul have formed an alliance under a mutual defense treaty since 1953, where 28,500 U.S. military personnel are stationed in South Korea to deter aggression from North Korea. The allies have frequently conducted combined military exercises.
What to Know
A pair of U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, which were deployed on the U.S. island of Guam in the Western Pacific Ocean, took part in the drill with U.S. and South Korean fighter aircraft in South Korea’s airspace, validating their combined ability to carry out strikes.
The B-1B bomber, also known as Lancer, has the largest payload of conventional weapons in the U.S. Air Force inventory, carrying up to 75,000 pounds of bombs and missiles. It has an intercontinental flight range and can fly at Mach 1.2, faster than the speed of sound.
The Lancer, which is no longer equipped for nuclear strike missions since 2007, is capable of rapidly delivering “massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time,” the U.S. Air Force said in a fact sheet.
Participating U.S. aircraft also included three F-16 and four stealthy F-35B stealth jets. South Korea sent an unknown number of F-15K fighter jets and four F-35A stealth jets.
South Korean Air Force
This marked the first bilateral aerial exercise of the U.S.-South Korea alliance this year. The two nations held a trilateral aerial drill with Japan in airspace between South Korea and Japan on January 15, which involved two B-1B bombers and a number of fighter jets.
The alliance will seek to strengthen cooperation by “continuously expanding” joint drills to deter and counter threats posed by North Korea, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
What People Are Saying
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General David Iverson, commander of the Seventh Air Force at Osan Air Base in South Korea, said in a press release: “Advanced training like today’s event ensures we’re able to maintain the high levels of readiness necessary for our combined defense posture. Each time our aircrew plan, execute and debrief together, we build proficiency in our tactics, techniques and procedures to defend the Alliance, if required.”
The South Korean Defense Ministry said in a press release: “The training was conducted to display the U.S. extended deterrence capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and bolster interoperability of South Korea-U.S. combined forces.”
What Happens Next
The U.S. military will continue to conduct exercises with its South Korean and Japanese counterparts as tensions persist on the Korean Peninsula. The White House said Trump is committed to achieving his denuclearization goal by a “mix of toughness and diplomacy.”
