A US B-52 Stratofortress (bottom R) flying with South Korean F-15K fighter jets (top) and US F-16 fighter jets (bottom L) over South Korea Photo: AFP
US Pacific Air Forces Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy maintains that US warplanes will continue to fly near the Korean Peninsula in accordance with international guidelines despite North Korean threats to take down US warplanes.
“We feel strongly we should be able to fly, sail anywhere international rules allow,” O’Shaughnessy said on September 29.
Pyongyang threatened to shoot down American planes flying near the Korean Peninsula outside of the country’s airspace border following a tweet from the US President Donald Trump that had said that North Korea’s current regime “won’t be around much longer.” Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho claimed that this amounted to a declaration of war, and that Pyongyang had the right to take countermeasures.
The Trump administration said it was not seeking to overthrow North Korea’s government and called Pyongyang’s assertion that Trump’s comment amounted to a declaration of war ridiculous.
When US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in China seeking a diplomatic channel of communication with North Korea, Trump promptly shut him down by tweeting “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” and later followed it up urging Tillerson to “save his energy” as “we’ll do what has to be done!”
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis claimed that America’s focus was still on finding a diplomatic solution to the dispute.
Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have grown as North Korea has tested missiles and a nuclear device, part of its aim to develop a nuclear weapon that could reach the US mainland. Several missiles fired have flown over Japan and Pyongyang threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific ocean.
US behaving like a backyard bully.
That seems to be the standard operation procedure.
no, they have right to fly in international eirspace. as big right as russians in west europe.
They are abusing the “right to fly in international airspace”. If Putin had publicly and on record declared in the UN to “totally destroy” Poland, and was then flying nuclear capable bombers frequently right to the Polish border it would be considered a huge provocation. The “right to fly in international airspace” and also the “freedom of the seas” should not apply to military craft. Military craft should be controlled in a completely different way. Military craft should have no right to approach foreign borders to offensive missile range. Doing so without permission or agreement should be considered a de facto attempt at escalation towards war.
The US hates the other kids in the sandbox time to take away their golden shovel and see how they liked being kicked around, destroy their petro dollar and watch them start bawling ,kicking and screaming.