WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by
fighter jets flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on
Saturday, in a show of force the Pentagon said demonstrated the range of
military options available to President Donald Trump.
The flight, which was disclosed shortly before North Korea's foreign
minister was due to address the United Nations, was the farthest north of the
demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea that any U.S. fighter jet
or bomber has flown in the 21st century, the Pentagon said.
"This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear
message that the President has many military options to defeat any
threat," said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White, calling North Korea's
weapons programme "a grave threat."
"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to
defend the U.S. homeland and our allies."
The flight follows a week of heightened rhetoric from Washington and
Pyongyang, with Trump and Kim Jong Un trading insults. Trump called the North
Korean leader a "madman" on Friday, a day after Kim dubbed him a
"mentally deranged U.S. dotard."
Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and
has launched dozens of missiles this year as it accelerates a programme aimed at
enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. The
North has threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific.
The Pentagon said the B-1B Lancer bombers came from Guam and the U.S.
Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter escorts came from Okinawa, Japan. It said the
operation showed the seriousness with which it took North Korea's
"reckless behaviour."
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali;
Editing by James Dalgleish)
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