N. Korea claims US strategic bomber B-1B flew near Korean Peninsula

The U.S. strategic bomber B-1B has flown near the Korean Peninsula recently, a North Korean report said Saturday, accusing the U.S. of launching military threats.

"The imperialist U.S. flew the B-1B nuclear strategic bomber from the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to skies near the Korean Peninsula on Friday morning, carrying out military threats and menace," the Korean-language propaganda radio station Pyongyang Broadcasting said. 

"The imperialist U.S.' reckless lunacy of seeking a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the (North Korea) republic is reaching a serious condition that cannot be overlooked anymore," the radio report said.

The bomber, also known also the Lancer, took part in an attack drill in South Korea on Thursday, the report added, claiming that the drill was aimed at bombing key strategic military facilities in North Korea.   

(Yonhap)

"The U.S. is escalating its nuclear threats to the maximum level by sending the B-1B strategic bomber to South Korea and its adjacent skies," the North Korean radio station said. "Never before have such notorious nuclear strategic bombers been sent (to the peninsula) this repeatedly, along with calls for pre-emptive nuclear attacks."

The North Korean military's reaction will also be more thorough and merciless than ever as the U.S.' attempts for pre-emptive nuclear attacks are getting more reckless, it said, threatening to launch a pre-emptive strike of its own.  

In response to the report, however, a South Korean official said the claimed dispatch of the Lancer has not been verified.

The U.S. officially flew the strategic bomber over South Korea on two occasions in the last month in a show of military force that was intended to act as a deterrence following Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9. (Yonhap)