US warplanes carry out live-fire drills in response to North Korea nuclear missile threat
TWO US supersonic bombers have performed live-fire drills in South Korea as tensions in the region threaten to boil over.
US 'drops dummy bombs' near North Korea in show of force
The sabre-rattling comes in response to North Korea's test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The pair of B-1B Lancer strategic bombers flew from a US base on the Pacfic island of Guam and were joined by US and South Korean jet fighters to conduct the simulated destruction of an enemy ballistic missile launcher and underground facilities.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the bombers then flew west, hugging the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) border between the two Koreas, before leaving South Korean airspace.
US warplanes carried out live-fire exercises in South Korea
The drill follows a joint artillery and missile exercise by South Korean and US forces a day after the North's ICBM test.
Pyongyang said it successfully test-launched an ICBM on Tuesday and claimed the missile was capable of carrying a large and heavy nuclear warhead.
Experts believe the missile has the range to reach Alaska and Hawaii and the test signalled a significant advance in Kim Jong-un’s declared intent to build a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the US mainland.
North Korea test launches an intercontinental ballistic missile
North Korea has hailed the ICBM test as marking the completion of is strategic weapons capability that it says includes atomic and hydrogen bombs.
US President Donald Trump vowed to confront the North "very strongly" and warned Washington was considering "severe things" for the isolated state following the ICBM test.
Donald Trump, Moon Jae-in and Shinzo Abe after crisis talks in Hamburg
The US, Japan and South Korea have agreed to push for a quick UN Security Council resolution to put new sanctions on North Korea.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Mr Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to apply "maximum pressure" to counter the threat.