The United States on Sunday flew two supersonic B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula, a warning sign to North Korea after Pyongyang’s recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).
The bombers took off from a U.S. air base in Guam, and were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets during the exercise
The B-1B flight was in direct response to the missile test and the previous July 3 launch of the “Hwansong-14” rocket.
“North Korea remains the most urgent threat to regional stability,” Pacific Air Forces commander General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy said in the statement.
“If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal, and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing”.
The U.S. has in the past used overflights of the supersonic B1-B “Lancer” bomber as a show of force in response to North Korean missile or nuclear tests.
North Korea had conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday that proved its ability to strike America’s mainland.
US political speak
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said Sunday that North Korea poses a “clear and present danger” to the United States, in the wake of the country’s second  test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Feinstein said on “Face the Nation” that after spending time on intelligence and in briefings, she’s “convinced that North Korea has never moved at the speed that this leader has to develop an ICBM to put solid fuel, to have an interesting launch device, and to have a trajectory which, as of the latest analysis, would enable it to go about 6,000 miles and maybe even hit as far east as Chicago.”
“We can’t have that,” she added. “To me, it points out the danger in isolating a country, that they go to the science and the technical know-how to show their brute force, not to handle the isolation.” (screenny.com)
Not the first time
It is not the first time that the US has talked about taking on North Korea and nobody takes them seriously anymore.
Tensions have mounted over North Korea's attempts to develop a viable nuclear weapon after it carried out a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
"The missile was launched from Mupyong-ni and traveled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan".
The test Friday is the latest step in the North's quest to develop a missile program capable of striking the U.S. (fairydetox.org)