B-1B bombers' deployment to Japan 'harmful to regional security,' says North Korea

ISTANBUL

North Korea said Friday that the deployment of US B-1B strategic bombers to Japan is "harmful to the regional security."

"The deployment of B-1Bs in Japan shows that the military basis of the US which had resorted to the use of force in the Asia-Pacific region with Guam mainly as its launching base and starting position is changing into a more vicious one. This is clearly a very serious development harmful to regional security," according to a commentary from the Korean Central News Agency.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said a bomber task force deployment of US Air Force B-1B Lancer aircraft, airmen, and support equipment from the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron landed at Misawa Air Base in Japan on April 15 to "support Pacific Air Forces’ training efforts with Allies, partners, and joint forces and strategic deterrence missions to reinforce regional stability in the Indo-Pacific."

"The 'death swan' nested in Japan will not 'contribute' to regional security but only serve the US political and military hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region and the formation of the US-led exclusive military bloc," the North Korean news agency said, adding that US efforts to "destroy peace and stability by escalating military threats to the Asia-Pacific region will be subject to due counterattack by the regional people."

It added that the move's "significance" is that it is "far from being the temporary deployment for the US-Japan joint drill or for muscle-flexing against regional countries."

The commentary also remarked on Washington deploying a B-1B bomber to South Korea three times this year for drills.

Separately, South Korea and the US have finished a tabletop military exercise after five days, a drill aimed at improving response capabilities to North Korea's nuclear power by utilizing conventional power and US nuclear power, reported Seoul-based Yonhap News.