Pentagon spokesman said that the deployment is meant to “send a message that the United States stands closely with its allies and partners to deter potential provocation.”…reports Asian Lite News
Amid the looming threat of a new North Korean nuclear test and tensions over China’s potential invasion of Taiwan, the United States Air Force has deployed its B-1B bombers in Guam this week, according to media report.
It is the long-range aircraft’s second deployment to the island this year.
The US military confirmed their temporary deployment to the U.S. Pacific territory as part of a “bomber task force” mission on Thursday, a day after aircraft-spotting websites reported their flight from home bases in the United States, Reuters reported.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that the deployment is meant to “send a message that the United States stands closely with its allies and partners to deter potential provocation.”
He said that the B-1B bombers’ presence is also aimed at demonstrating that the United States has the capability to conduct global operations at any time, it was reported.
North Korea’s military on Wednesday said that it fired artillery shots overnight into maritime buffer zones near the inter-Korean border as a “serious warning” over Seoul’s ongoing military drills.
In a statement, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said the North’s military launched a “threatening and warning” fire as its “powerful military countermeasure” against South Korea’s military exercises, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The spokesperson also called on the South to immediately stop “reckless and inciting provocations” that have raised military tensions on the peninsula, according to the carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The shots came hours after the North launched more than 250 artillery shells into waters off its east and west coast.
The KPA official said the move came in response to a series of “military provocative acts by enemies”, citing the Hoguk military drills under way in the South.
South Korea kicked off its annual Hoguk field training on Monday to hone defence capabilities to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
The drills are to run until October 28.
Last week, North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shots into the maritime buffer zones in the East and Yellow seas that were set under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing military tensions.
South Korea called the North’s provocations a clear violation of the 2018 inter-Korean military accord.
