Commander Orders Highest Alert for S. Korea-US Allied Forces

The United States’ B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber flew in the skies of South Korea on Sunday in a major show of force four days after North Korea conducted what it said was its first hydrogen bomb test.

US and South Korean media said the strategic assets Washington was considering included the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier US Ronald Reagan, B-2 bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and F-22 stealth fighter jets.

A South Korean defence ministry spokesman declined to disclose details of the deliberations with the United States, which has some 30,000 troops permanently based in the South.

Last week, South Korea resumed broadcasting propaganda across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) via loudspeakers following Pyongyang’s claim of a successful H-bomb test, which has been hotly disputed by its neighbors and the U.S.

Curtis Scaparrotti, Commander, U.N. Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea (USFK), made the order during a visit to the Osan Air Base, operated jointly by the United States and South Korea, a USFK official said.

Seoul’s current envoy to the talks is to meet his Washington and Tokyo counterparts Wednesday, before moving on to China for dialogue with Beijing’s representative the following day.

South Korea and the USA are scheduled to conduct annual joint training exercises at the end of February, Yonhap reported.

Last week, South Korea took a series of steps in a retaliatory move against North Korea, saying the nuclear test violated an inter-Korean agreement reached in August.

Tensions have escalated since Pyongyang claimed it tested a hydrogen bomb last week, with the two Koreas continuing to blast loudspeaker propaganda along the border yesterday.

The US military said the fly-by was a demonstration of the “ironclad” commitment to its military alliance with South Korea, and a direct response to the North’s fourth nuclear test.

In addition to its psycological warfare, Seoul is also going to restrict the entry of South Korean workers into the joint Kaesong industrial complex.

It said that Kim had posed for photos with nuclear scientists and technicians involved in the latest test and praised them for “having glorified” his two predecessors – late father, Kim Jong-Il, and grandfather, Kim Il-Sung.

If confirmed, Kim Dong Chul, who CNN said was 60 and formerly of Fairfax, Virginia, would be the second Western citizen known to be held now in North Korea. Now, according to the statement, North Korea “possesses the strongest deterrent forces”.

China may be reluctant to crack down hard on North Korea for fear of destabilising the regime in case it sends millions of refugees across China’s border or lead to an eventual unification with the South, leaving a well-armed U.S. ally on China’s frontier.