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Friday 1 September 2017

US flies bombers, fighters in show of force against North Korea

By KIM TONG-HYUNG though the United States
Associated Press no longer arms them with
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) nuclear weapons.
— The United States flew Hours after the announce-
some of its most advanced ments by Washington and
warplanes in bombing drills Seoul, North Korea’s offi-
with ally South Korea on cial Korean Central News
Thursday, a clear warning Agency issued a short
after North Korea launched statement calling the ex-
a midrange ballistic missile ercises a “rash act of those
designed to carry nuclear taken aback” by North Ko-
bombs over Japan ear- rea’s recent missile launch.
lier this week, the U.S. and The dueling military displays
South Korean militaries said. open up the risk that things
North Korea hates such dis- will get worse as each side
plays of U.S. military might seeks to show it won’t be in-
at close range and will like- timidated.
ly respond with fury. North Korea has made it
Two U.S. B-1B supersonic clear that it sees its weap-
bombers and four F-35B ons program, which de-
stealth fighter jets joined mands regular testing to
four South Korean F-15 perfect, as the only way
fighters in live-fire exercises to contest decades of U.S.
at a military field in eastern hostility, by which it means
South Korea that simulated In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, bombs dropped by U.S. Air Force B-1B the huge U.S. military pres-
precision strikes against the bombers, F-35 stealth fighter jets and South Korean F-15 fighter jets hit a simulated target as they ence in South Korea, Ja-
fly over the Korean Peninsula, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The United States flew some of
North’s “core facilities,” ac- its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills with ally South Korea on Thursday, a clear warning pan and the Pacific. Wash-
cording to the U.S. Pacific after North Korea launched a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear bombs over ington, in turn, seeks with
Command and South Ko- Japan earlier this week, South Korea’s military said. its joint drills with Seoul and
rea’s Defense Ministry. The (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP) bomber flights to show that
B-1Bs were flown in from came from a U.S. base in Washington has long arsenal, describes the long- it will not be pushed from its
Andersen Air Force Base Iwakuni, Japan. threatened it by flaunting range B-1Bs as “nuclear traditional role of suprema-
in Guam while the F-35Bs North Korea, which claims the powerful U.S. nuclear strategic bombers” al- cy in the region. q