International News

Washington, Nov 3 (AFP/APP):US bombers overflew the Korean peninsula Thursday as part of an exercise with Japanese and South Korean warplanes,
the US Air Force said, days before President Donald Trump arrives in the region for a trip set to be dominated by the
nuclear-armed North.
Tensions are high over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and atomic programmes, which in recent months have
seen it test ICBMs and carry out its sixth nuclear blast.
Trump’s visit will throw a spotlight on the issue, after the US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un traded insults and threats of war.
Flights by supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers in the area always infuriate North Korea, which condemned the drill as “blackmail” early Friday.
Two B-1B aircraft took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, and were joined west of Japan by Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighters, the US Pacific Air Force said in a statement.
“The Lancers then transited overland to Korea to integrate with Republic of Korea fighters in the Yellow Sea,” the statement read, adding that the aircraft later returned “to their respective home stations.”