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US deploys nuclear B-52 bombers & stealth jets after North Korea missile test as Kim vows his enemies will ‘suffer’
THE US deployed today nuclear B-52 bombers following Kim Jong-un's sinister missile launch.
The chilling air drills saw two B-52 nuclear bombers flying over South Korea, just hours after the North Korean despot test-fired his new stealth ballistic missile.
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Dramatic images released by South Korea's Defense Ministry show the formidable B-52 bombers and F-35 fighter jets in the sky in a show of strength against North Korea.
The B-52 Stratofortress has a flying range of 9,000 miles and can carry more than 30 tonnes of bombs.
The deadly weapon can also be fitted with large numbers of nuclear-able cruise missiles and precision air-to-surface rockets.
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,” said Lieutenant General Park Ha Sik, commander of the South Korean air force operation command.
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It comes as 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.
The drills come just hours after Kim Jong-un test-fired a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday.
Leader Kim Jong Un guided Thursday's test, and warned it would make enemies "experience a clearer security crisis, and constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror into them by taking fatal and offensive counter-actions until they abandon their senseless thinking and reckless acts", North Korean state media said.
"We will strike with deadly force and respond aggressively until the enemy gives up its idle strategy and foolish behaviour and so that it will suffer in endless fear," raged Kim.
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North Korea's powerful new rocket will "constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror" into enemies, Kim Jong-un warned.
Most of the country's largest ballistic missiles use liquid fuel, which requires them to be loaded with propellant at their launch site - a time-consuming and dangerous process.
The Hwasong-18, however, is a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile that state media said had been tested to "radically promote" North Korea's nuclear counterattack capability.
It is seen as making it easier for the dictator to launch a full-scale nuclear strike.
Footage shows the missiles blasting into the sky while pictures show the tyrant and his young daughter watching on.
The missile, fired from near Pyongyang, flew about 1,000 km before landing in waters east of North Korea, according to officials.
South Korea's defence ministry said North Korea was still developing the weapon, and that it needed more time and effort to master the technology, indicating that Pyongyang might carry out more tests.
Analysts said it is the North's first use of solid propellants in an intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missile.
Developing a solid-fuel ICBM has long been seen as a key goal for North Korea, as it could help the North deploy missiles faster during a war.
And just a day before, North Korea fired a stealth ballistic missile in what has been branded a "grave provocation" as it sparked a mass evacuation in Japan.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from a high angle near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
It then fell into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan following a 1,000km flight.
The launch prompted Japan to issue an evacuation order on a northern island.
It read: "Immediately evacuate inside the building or underground.
"The missile is expected to fall around Hokkaido around 08:00."
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Schools in Hokkaido delayed their opening times and some train services were suspended, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
The order was later retracted, however.
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