The United States flew two supersonic bombers over South Korea on Wednesday, the second such flight since North Korea’s Sept. 9 nuclear test.
The B-1B Lancer strategic bombers are based in Guam, and one landed at an air base 25 miles south of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. The U.S. said the flight by the pair of bombers was a show of force and U.S. commitment to the security of the peninsula.
Two bombers also flew on Sept. 13, escorted by U.S. and South Korean fighter jets in another show of commitment.
The U.S. Air Force said the Wednesday flight was the closest ever to North Korea by a B-1 bomber.
“Today marks the first time the airframe has landed on the Korean peninsula in 20 years, as well as conducting the closest flight near North Korea ever,” the U.S. Air Force said on its website.
The U.S. Air Force also posted a video of a B-1B bomber landing at the base in South Korea. The United States has roughly 28,5000 troops in South Korea.
North Korea condemned the earlier flight as an armed provocation that mobilized “ill-famed nuclear killing tools,” but did not immediately respond to Wednesday’s flight.
