US sends bombers in show of force against N.Korea
South Korea says the United States has flown two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force during joint military drills.
U.S. and South Korean warplanes regularly conduct drills, but Tuesday’s flights came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the B-1B bombers were part of routine exercises with South Korea aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.
Power; Two B1-B Lancer bombers (stock photo) have conducted a flyover of the Korean Peninsula following the death of American student Otto Warmbier
The U.S. military said the bombers conducted drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces, demonstrating solidarity with the U.S. allies.
The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.
The military posturing came before the furious response of politicians across the nation.
Senator John McCain called the death of Warmbier, ‘murder’ and said that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is responsible.
Warmbier, the American university student held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his family said.
Detention: Otto Warmbier is pictured here being taken to North Korea’s top court in Pyongyang in North Korea in March, 2016
Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student detained and imprisoned in North Korea, is carried off of an airplane at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 – he passed away six days later
Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of “unresponsive wakefulness.”
“Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,” the family said in a statement after Warmbier’s death at 2:20 p.m
There was no immediate word from Warmbier’s family on the cause of his death.
The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing “the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.”
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