For their part, South Korea and the United States demonstrated their own combined air superiority over the past week, with fighters flying a record 1,600 sorties during the Vigilant Storm exercise.
On Saturday, two B-1B Lancer bombers, which took off from Guam, a US territory in the Western Pacific Ocean, flew over South Korea, being hit by four South Korean F-35A fighters and four US F-16 jet protection. Korean Army. The last time the US deployed B-1B bombers to South Korea in 2017when North Korea conducted its last nuclear test, as well as its first ICBM test-fire.
The Korean people are particularly sensitive to US long-range bombers in the skies over South Korea, after US aerial bombings razed their country to ashes during the Korean War. 1950s.
The dispatch of the B-1Bs, which were scheduled ahead of Saturday morning’s North Korean missile launch, is part of Washington’s commitment to so-called extended deterrence. By deploying supersonic and long-range bombers to the Korean Peninsula, the United States highlights its commitment to defend South Korea during times of conflict there.
Anxiety over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has grown in South Korea since North Korea’s adoption a more active nuclear doctrine, openly stated that they would use nuclear weapons if threatened. It has also conducted military exercises related to the test launch of a nuclear missile at South Korea.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, sees the expansion of his nuclear and missile forces as essential to ensuring the security of his regime, increasing his leverage in arms control negotiations. future weapons with Washington and the balance of military power between North Korea and South Korea in favor of North Korea, according to analysts.
When Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III met his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, in Washington last week, he warned that “any nuclear attack” by North Korea would “lead to the the end of the Kim regime”. according to a joint statement.
