North Korea Fumes Over United States' B-1B Bombers Flyover
On Wednesday, North Korea declared its disagreement with the United States' flyover of two B-1B nuclear-capable strategic bombers over South Korea and called the action "reckless provocations." Officials of the communist nation also said that such activity should stop.
The Air Force of the United States flew the B-1B Lancers over Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, on Tuesday. According to some sources, the action served as a warning to North Korea after its fifth nuclear test Friday last week.
Yonhap News reported that the state-run North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) criticized the exercise and called it a "military provocation" that shows the United States' intentions to mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack.
In an English message that was also monitored in Seoul, the KCNA stated, "They are blustering this is a 'demonstration of the fulfillment of their strong commitment to protecting' South Korea and 'strong warning' to the DPRK, in particular." DPRK stands for North Korea's official name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The statement also claimed that the United states will continue to bring nuclear carriers and other nuclear strategic means to South Korea in an attempt to strengthen and prepare for a nuclear attack.
The KCNA added, "These extremely reckless provocations of the United States imperialist warmongers are pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion hour by hour." It also warned that its country's military has the resources to "beat back any aggression and provocation at a single blow," and told the two allies, "They had better stop their rash actions."
The B-1B Lancer is a four-engine supersonic variable sweep wing, strategic bomber with a maximum speed of Mach 1.25 and could fly very close to the ground in order to avoid detection as it closes in on target. The said bomber can reach North Korea in two hours after it leaves the Guam base.
