At least four American F-22 stealth fighters flew over South Korea Tuesday in a show of support for Seoul and a warning to its increasingly nuclear neighbor to the North.
F-22s are capable of sneaking past most radar to deliver payloads to, say, launch platforms that North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un has promised to make more use of in the near future.
The overflight happened one day after South Korean President Park Geun-hye predicted “regime collapse” in the North to her nation’s Parliament if the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, or DPRK, does not curb its nuclear enthusiasm.
The DPRK set off an explosive on January 5 that it claims was a hydrogen bomb. It followed that detonation a month later by test firing what it claims was an “Earth observation satellite,” but that America and others have treated as a test of missile launch technology to enhance the Hermit Kingdom’s nuclear reach.
The F-22s could be only a preview of increased American presence in the region. The joint U.S.- South Korea military exercises set to take early next month through the end of April “are the most visible signs of that alliance,” reports the Nikkei Weekly, and “over 5,000 more troops will participate this year than last.”
American forces will bring a Navy nuclear carrier along with them as well, which is sure to set teeth on edge for Koreans on both sides of the demilitarized zone.
