US flies nuclear-capable bombers amid tensions with North Korea

The United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula again on Wednesday in a show of strength against North Korea amid concerns that the North might conduct a nuclear test.

The long-range bombers took part in joint aerial drills with US and South Korean fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's Defence Ministry said. It said it was the first deployment of US B-52 bombers to the peninsula in a month.

The drills “show the strong resolve of the (South) Korea-US alliance and its perfect readiness to respond to any provocation by North Korea swiftly and overwhelmingly,” Lt Gen Park Ha Sik, commander of the South Korean air force operation command, said in a statement.

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The South Korean and US militaries have been expanding their combined military drills in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

The allies conducted their biggest field exercises in five years and computer simulations last month. The US also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier for joint naval training with South Korea last week and US-South Korea-Japan anti-submarine drills this week.

North Korea sees such drills as provocations that show its rivals' intention of attacking the North. A day after the last flight by a B-52 bomber to the peninsula on March 6, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned that her country was ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the United States and South Korea.

North Korea has since test-launched a series of nuclear-capable weapons designed to attack South Korea and the United States. They included the North's longest-range Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, a developmental nuclear-capable drone, and cruise missiles fired from a submarine.

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Last week, North Korea unveiled a new battlefield nuclear warhead to fit on short-range weapons targeting South Korea. That touched off speculation that it may want to carry out its first nuclear test since 2017 because its last two nuclear test detonations happened after it disclosed other new warheads. If conducted, it would be the North's seventh nuclear weapons test.

Whether North Korea has functioning nuclear-armed missiles remains a subject of debate. Some experts say a nuclear detonation would be aimed at testing a miniaturised warhead for short-range missiles because the country's recent weapons tests have focused more on weapons that place key military installations in South Korea, including US military bases there, within striking distance.

Kim Jong Un has said North Korea won't return to denuclearization talks with the US unless Washington drops hostile policies toward the North, an apparent reference to its joint military drills with South Korea and US-led international economic sanctions. Some observers say Kim wants to use his growing weapons arsenal to pressure Washington to accept it as a nuclear power and lift the sanctions.