US, allies’ warplanes buzz Korean Peninsula in show of force against North Korea

The United States, South Korea and Japan have flown warplanes over waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea that is reportedly planning another nuclear test.

On Tuesday, four US F-16 fighter jets flew in formation with 16 South Korean planes, including F-35A stealth fighters, over waters off South Korea’s eastern coast, The Associated Press reported, citing the south’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The US and Japan conducted a separate drill involving six aircraft, four Japanese F-15 fighters and two American F-16s, above waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.

This comes as US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman threatened North Korea with a “swift and forceful response” if Pyongyang conducted another nuclear test.

Pyongyang last performed such a test in September 2017.

“North Korea may soon up the ante as US and South Korean officials say it is all but ready to conduct another detonation at its nuclear testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri,” the AP reported.

On Monday, Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there were indications that one of the passages at the Punggye-ri testing ground had been reopened, in apparent preparation for the North’s seventh nuclear test.

Observers say if conducted, the nuclear test would serve as a step in the direction of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un’s ambition of building an arsenal that can viably threaten both the US and its Asian allies.

US President Joe Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump took unprecedented steps towards apparently fraternizing the North by initiating several rounds of dialog with Pyongyang, and even walking a number of steps into the country alongside Kim.

Washington, however, blew what Pyongyang called a “golden opportunity” at mending the situation by insisting too much on the North’s denuclearization.

The emphasis prompted the North to discredit all the steps that had been taken by Trump as ingenuine and go back to its military adventurism and fiery discourse towards Washington.

Since Biden’s inauguration, Pyongyang has denounced the new president for pursuing a “hostile policy” and saying it was a “big blunder” for him to say he would deal with the “threat” posed by the North’s nuclear program “through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence.”