SEOUL (Dispatches) -- The U.S. has flown two supersonic heavy bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against Pyongyang, staging the first nighttime joint aviation exercises with Japan and South Korea.
Two B-1B Lancers based in Guam flew a mission in the vicinity of the Sea of Japan late Tuesday, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said in a statement.
South Korean defenSe authorities on Wednesday said the bombers staged a simulated air-to-ground missile firing drill with two South Korean fighters over the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
The four aircraft then flew across the peninsula and staged another round of a firing exercise over the Yellow Sea before the two B-IBs returned home, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The B-1Bs also conducted exercises with Japan's Air Force in what the U.S. statement called a "sequenced bilateral mission."
Tensions in Korean Peninsula have soared in recent months with Pyongyang launching a flurry of missiles and conducting its sixth and most powerful nuclear test last month following a series of U.S. threats.
The exercises came as a U.S. nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, the USS Tuckson, made a call in South Korea's southern port of Jinhae, the U.S. Pacific Command said.
It did not say when the Hawaii-based submarine with a crew of around 150 would depart the peninsula.
The last flight by U.S. bombers was 17 days earlier when four U.S. F-35B stealth fighter jets and two B-1Bs flew over the peninsula.
The North's missile and nuclear capabilities have made significant progress under leader Kim Jong-Un, who on Saturday told party officials that the country's atomic weapons were a "treasured sword" to protect it from aggression.