US Conducts B-52 Bomber Overflight in South Korea

The US and its ally South Korea are in talks to send further strategic assets to the Korean peninsula, a day after a US B-52 bomber flew over the South in response to the test.

“The North Korean military is broadcasting (a loudspeaker campaign toward the South) at multiple locations”, South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters.

Washington/Seoul: The United States and South Korea are discussing deploying more USA “strategic assets” to the region after North Korea’s atomic test last week but not restoring US nuclear arms to the South, a US official said on Monday.

The United States has reportedly put its military forces in South Korea on the highest level of alert over the recent escalation on the Korean peninsula.

Inter-Korea border tensions remain high as South Korea continues to run loudspeaker broadcasts inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that criticize North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Situated north of the DMZ, the Kaesong complex was established in 2002 during the “Sunshine Policy” of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who sought better relations with Seoul’s northern neighbor.

Compared to the South’s devices, whose sound output can reach as far as 20 kilometers beyond the border, the North’s sound output is said to be half that.

“This is an initial response measure to North Korea’s nuclear test”, Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said.

North Korea has been roundly condemned for its nuclear tests, including this one.

North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party, said the United States was bringing the political situation to the brink of war by sending strategic bombers to South Korea.

Kim Jong-Un, the leader of the secretive communist state, said it was created to protect the region “from the danger of nuclear war caused by the US-led imperialists”, according to the country’s news agency.

On the other hand, South Korea resumed its anti-North Korea broadcasts a few days after North Korea claimed they have conducted a “successful” hydrogen bomb test.

U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flies over Osan Air Base on January 10 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Defense Ministry has confirmed its in discussions with the United States about additional USA deployments in South Korea. Perhaps the prospect of a military buildup by the US on the peninsula might be enough to persuade them to act, although it’s unclear whether China has the kind of influence that’s needed to control the North at this point.

But the ministry had already “basically ruled out” the possibility the test would have any radiation impact upon China, and nothing abnormal had yet been found, it said. “The North Korean regime has survived for more than 65 years, but internal economic and political strains could eventually lead to a sudden collapse”.