The United States deployed a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight over its ally South Korea on Sunday.
The action is a clear show of force from the US as a Cold War-style standoff deepened between its ally Seoul and North Korea following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test.
North Korea will read the fly-over of a bomber capable of delivering nuclear weapons at Osan Air Base near Seoul as a threat.
Any display of America’s nuclear power enrages Pyongyang, which links its own pursuit of atomic weapons to what it sees as past nuclear-backed moves by the US to topple its authoritarian government.
The massive B-52, based in Guam and capable of carrying nuclear weapons, could be seen in a low flight over Osan Air Base at around noon. It was flanked by two fighter planes, a US F-16 and a South Korean F-15, before returning to Guam, the US military said.
Osan is south of Seoul and 77 km from the Demilitarised Zone that separates the two Koreas. The flight was “in response to recent provocative action by North Korea”, it said.
“North Korea’s nuclear test is a blatant violation of its international obligations.”
The B-52 flight followed a victory tour by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to celebrate the country’s widely disputed claim of a hydrogen bomb test.
Kim is seeking to rally pride in an explosion viewed with outrage by much of the world.
There was no immediate reaction from North Korea’s state media to the B-52 fly-over, which also happened after North Korea’s third nuclear test in 2013.
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