[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] This Time, B-52 Bomber Deployment

US Long-Range Bomber B-52 Returns to Korean Peninsula After 3 Months
Discussion Underway for Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier Nimitz's Port Call in Busan

As U.S. strategic assets capable of carrying nuclear weapons are deployed again on the Korean Peninsula, a large number of U.S. strategic assets are expected to converge.

According to the military on the 6th, the U.S. long-range bomber B-52H (Stratofortress) is conducting joint air exercises with the Republic of Korea Air Force on the Korean Peninsula.

The deployment of the B-52 on the Korean Peninsula comes about three months after December last year. The B-52, which first flew in 1952, is the longest-serving U.S. strategic bomber, but the upgraded H model is currently active. Among the three existing U.S. bombers?B-52, B-1B, and B-2?both the B-52 and B-2 are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Even after the U.S. military unveiled the new B-21 bomber, the B-52 is expected to remain in active service longer than anticipated.

Following the B-52, discussions are underway regarding the arrival of the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) in South Korea. Subsequently, the U.S. Navy’s underwater, surface, and air forces are expected to be deployed on the Korean Peninsula around the same time.

Recently, the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Springfield (SSN 761, 6,000-ton class) stayed at the Busan operational base. Following that, the latest model of the U.S. Navy’s main destroyers, USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115), also called at Jeju Island on the 27th of last month and departed on the 3rd.

During last year’s South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, the U.S. military’s high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Global Hawk took off from a U.S. base in Japan and flew over the East Sea and the Seoul metropolitan area, exposing its flight path.

The simultaneous appearance of U.S. strategic assets such as nuclear submarines and Aegis destroyers on the Korean Peninsula is interpreted as a measure to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and to check China. Considering North Korea’s strong opposition to South Korea-U.S. joint exercises and the deployment of U.S. strategic assets in the past, there are concerns about the possibility of intensified provocations by North Korea before and after the South Korea-U.S. joint exercise “Freedom Shield” (FS).

On the 4th, North Korea issued a statement under the name of a vice foreign minister, referring to the joint exercises involving the B-1B and MQ-9, and protested, saying, "The United States and South Korea are heating up the situation on the Korean Peninsula to an extremely dangerous level with threatening rhetoric and military demonstration games."