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UP FRONTMonday 11 January 2016
Powerful US bomber flies over S. Korea as standoff deepens
FOSTER KLUG as past nuclear-backed to celebrate the country’s day from state-run Korean lutely necessary.
AHN YOUNG-JOON moves by the United States widely disputed claim of a Central News Agency. During his tour, Kim posed
Associated Press to topple its authoritarian hydrogen bomb test. Kim is “It is the legitimate right of for photos with leading mili-
OSAN AIR BASE, South Ko- government. seeking to rally pride in an a sovereign state and a fair tary officials in front of stat-
rea (AP) — A powerful U.S. The B-52 was joined by explosion viewed with out- action that nobody can ues of the two members of
B-52 bomber flew low over South Korean F-15 and U.S. rage by much of the world criticize,” Kim was reported his family who led the coun-
South Korea on Sunday, a F-16 fighters and returned and to boost his domestic as saying during his tour of try previously — Kim Jong
clear show of force from to its base in Guam after political goals. the People’s Armed Forces Il and Kim Il Sung. He also
the United States as a Cold the flight, the U.S. military There was no immediate Ministry. sought to link the purported
War-style standoff deep- said. reaction from North Korea’s The tone of Kim’s com- success of the nuclear test
ened between its ally Seoul “This was a demonstration state media to the B-52 fly- ments, which sought to glo- to a ruling Workers’ Party
convention in May, the par-
A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016. The powerful U.S. B-52 ty’s first since 1980. He’s ex-
bomber flew low over South Korea on Sunday, a clear show of force from the United States as a Cold War-style standoff deepened pected to use the congress
between its ally Seoul and North Korea following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test. to announce major state
policies and shake up the
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) country’s political elite to
further consolidate his pow-
and North Korea following of the ironclad U.S. commit- over, which also happened rify him and justify the test, is er. World powers are look-
Pyongyang’s fourth nucle- ment to our allies in South after North Korea’s third nu- typical of state media pro- ing for ways to punish the
ar test. Korea, in Japan, and to the clear test in 2013. paganda. North over a nuclear test
North Korea will read the fly- defense of the American Kim’s first public comments But they also provide insight that, even if not of a hydro-
over of a bomber capable homeland,” said Adm. Har- about last week’s test into North Korea’s long-run- gen bomb, still likely pushes
of delivering nuclear weap- ry B. Harris Jr., commander came in a visit to the coun- ning argument that it is the Pyongyang closer to its
ons — seen by an Associ- U.S. Pacific Command, in a try’s military headquarters, presence of tens of thou- goal of a nuclear-armed
ated Press photographer statement. “North Korea’s where he called the explo- sands of U.S. troops in South missile that can reach the
at Osan Air Base near Seoul nuclear test is a blatant sion “a self-defensive step” Korea and Japan, and a U.S. mainland. Many out-
— as a threat. Any hint of violation of its international meant to protect the re- “hostile” U.S. policy that side governments and ex-
America’s nuclear power obligations.” gion “from the danger of seeks to topple the govern- perts question whether the
enrages Pyongyang, which The B-52 flight follows a nuclear war caused by the ment in Pyongyang, that blast was in fact a powerful
links its own pursuit of atom- victory tour by North Ko- U.S.-led imperialists,” ac- make North Korea’s pursuit hydrogen test.
ic weapons to what it sees rean leader Kim Jong Un cording to a dispatch Sun- of nuclear weapons abso- In the wake of the test on
Wednesday, the two Ko-
reas have settled into the
kind of Cold War-era stand-
off that has defined their
relationship over the past
seven decades. Since Fri-
day, South Korea has been
blasting anti-Pyongyang
propaganda from huge
speakers along the border,
and the North is reportedly
using speakers of its own
in an attempt to keep its
soldiers from hearing the
South Korean messages.
A top North Korean ruling
party official’s recent warn-
ing that the South’s broad-
casts have pushed the Ko-
rean Peninsula “toward the
brink of war” is typical of
Pyongyang’s over-the-top
rhetoric. But it is also indica-
tive of the real fury that the
broadcasts, which criti-
cize the country’s revered
dictatorship, cause in the
North.q
