The United States has deployed two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over South Korea as part of a “deterrence” mission over the Korean peninsula.
The deployment of B-2 bombers on Thursday followed North Korea’s decision to cut a military hotline with the South, breaking the last direct communication link between the two countries at a time of heightened military tensions. The bombers made the 20,000km round trip from the US state of Missouri to South Korea in a single flight. Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said the US was sending “a very clear message to North Korea”.
Fawcett also reported that US defence secretary Charles Hagel has called his South Korea counterpart “to reaffirm the commitment” of the US to defend its ally.
On Wednesday, the North said it would inform the UN Security Council that the threat of nuclear war in the region was growing.
“Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep up North-South military communications,” the official was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency. “From now, the North-South military communications will be cut off”. In response to the latest provocation, the US said it was ready to respond to “any contingency”.
“North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric and the threats that they engage in follow a pattern designed to raise tensions and intimidate others,” Jay Carney, White House spokesman, said.
Several weeks ago, North Korea severed the Red Cross hotline that had been used for government-to-government communications in the absence of diplomatic relations.
‘Simmering’ war: The North has also threatened war against the South and its ally the US, saying conditions “for a simmering nuclear war” have been created on the peninsula.
“This is because of provocation moves by the US and South Korean puppets,” the statement said. In another sign of brewing tensions, a South Korean soldier standing on guard at the inter-Korean border threw a grenade towards a moving object in the dark early on Wednesday, causing a short-lived alarm.
