The United States flew a B-1B long-range bomber over the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday in the first precision-guided bombing exercise with South Korea in seven years, the South said on Wednesday.
The exercise – seen as a show of force against North Korea – comes as tensions rise over the North’s recent launches waste-bearing balloons towards South Korea and other provocations.
Wednesday’s training involved other advanced U.S. and South Korean fighter jets as well as the B-1B aircraft, the second U.S. bomber to be temporarily deployed over the Korean Peninsula this year. The exercise was intended to demonstrate the U.S. security commitment to South Korea and strengthen the allies’ joint defense position, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry, which posted footage of the exercise on social media.
During the training, the B-1B dropped Joint Direct Attack Munition while being escorted by South Korean fighter jets, the first such bombing exercise for a U.S. bomber since 2017, a ministry statement said.
/AP
South Korean warplanes also conducted live fire exercises to demonstrate the country’s willingness to punish North Korea if it is provoked.
JDAM bombs include ‘bunker busters’. JDAM is a guidance system that converts unguided, conventional bombs into more precise, GPS-guided weapons. All U.S. fighter jets, bombers and drones can use JDAMs, and the munitions are among the weapons systems the United States has supplied Ukraine to help the country fight the Russian invasion.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to exercises involving bunker bombs, which could threaten its leadership and its complex web of underground military tunnels and structures. North Korea has previously responded to the flights of powerful American aircraft in South Korea with its own missile tests.
A B-1B can carry a large load of conventional weapons. North Korea previously called the bomber’s deployment evidence of American hostility.
Last month, South Korea’s Defense Ministry released an image of a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighter performing a maneuver over Kunsan Air Base during a joint exercise.
“The exercise strengthened our confidence to decisively overcome any adversary with an overwhelming response to provocations,” ROK AF F-35A pilot Major Kim Seong-jun said in a statement at the time.
Last week North Korea floating hundreds of huge balloons to drop manure, cigarette butts, bits of cloth and waste batteries across South Korea. In response, South Korea vowed ‘unbearable’ retaliatory steps and suspended a fragile tension-easing military agreement with North Korea, restoring frontline military activities.
The suspension of the 2018 inter-Korean deal allows South Korea to resume live-fire exercises or anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers in border areas. Such steps are likely to prompt North Korea to take provocative measures.
Recently, North Korea launched a missile in an attempt to put a second spy satellite into orbit, in violation of UN resolutions it exploded shortly after takeoff. There was also test firing nuclear weapons for an exercise that simulated a pre-emptive strike on South Korea, and reportedly disrupted GPS navigation signals in South Korea.
North Korea sent its first military reconnaissance satellite launched into orbit in November last year as part of efforts to build a space-based surveillance network to counter what it calls growing US-led military threats. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later told a ruling party meeting that the country would launch three additional military spy satellites in 2024.
