hankyoreh

On June 17, the US Pacific Air Forces posted images of B-52H strategic bombers flying over the East Sea on its Twitter page. (PACAF Twitter account)

The revelation that the B-52H strategic bomber -- considered one of the US’ key strategic nuclear assets -- was deployed to the Korean Peninsula is raising questions over the reasons and aims behind the deployment.

On June 17, the US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) command disclosed on its official home page that two B-52H aircraft had departed from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana to conduct long-range escort and intercept training with the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) over the East Sea. US military authorities themselves announced that the US-Japan joint military exercises took place the day after North Korea demolished an inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong on June 16, and that the B-2H strategic bomber -- an aircraft that North Korea has responded very sensitively to -- was mobilized for the exercises. Although the US and Japan conduct joint exercises as allies throughout the year according to pre-established plans, military authorities do not always disclose the occurrence or content.

On June 19, two US Air Force B-52H aircraft were captured flying to the North of the Japanese archipelago by the private aviation tracking site Aircraft Spots. This took place not long after a June 17 announcement by the Korean People’s Army General Staff warning of various military measures, including the deployment of regiment-level units and firepower sub-units to the Mt. Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the redeployment of civil police posts (guard posts) in the DMZ, reinforcement of “those on combat duty” by artillery units on the entire front including the southwest naval front, upgrading its front guard duty to a “top class combat duty system,” and the resumption of “all kinds of regular military exercises” in border areas. Since the exposure of strategic asset deployment to private aviation tracking sites can be prevented by switching off location identification devices, experts generally agreed that the US may have had some reason for not doing so.

“What’s important here is that the US and Japan officially announced the occurrence of exercises [with the B-52H], and then two days later a private aviation tracking site was able to detect the deployment of strategic assets,” a military source told the Hankyoreh on June 21.

“This could be interpreted as [the US] deliberately revealing [the exercises and strategic asset deployment] as a show of force toward the North,” the source explained -- suggesting that it may have been sending a message warning North Korea to be cautious.

Another administration official said, “They could have kept it quiet, and the fact that they didn’t suggests there was definitely some intention here.”

In a telephone briefing on June 18, US Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey was cautious when asked whether the US was considering the resumption of joint military exercises with South Korea and the deployment of strategic assets as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula. But he added, “I don't want to get ahead of any future decisions that would be made, but this is one of the things that we are constantly talking to our South Korean allies about to ensure that we, as an alliance, are presenting the most effective combined deterrence and defense capability for the people in South Korea.”

His remarks could be seen as leaving open the possibility of joint South Korea-US military exercises and the strategic asset deployment as a “warning” to the North.

To date, South Korean and US military authorities have been downscaling and adjusting their joint military exercises to support diplomatic efforts by Pyongyang and Washington toward denuclearization. Prominent examples include the decision to discontinue large-scale military exercises such as Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, Key Resolve, and Foal Eagle between 2018 and last year and to replace it with the significantly shorter and smaller-scale “19-1 Dong Maeng [Alliance]” exercises in the first half of the year and joint command post exercises in the second half of the year. As a peaceful climate began taking shape in 2018 amid improvements in inter-Korean and North Korea-US relations, US strategic assets all but disappeared from the Korean Peninsula and nearby skies.

But with inter-Korean relations recently souring and military tensions rising, the next question is whether the joint South Korea-US military exercises scheduled for this August will proceed as scheduled. The command post exercises originally scheduled for March were indefinitely postponed amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, but the possibility of them taking place in the second half of the year remains open.

A South Korean government official said, “With the presidential election coming up, it’s not clear for now whether the US will go ‘low key’ with the joint military exercises in August.”

“If strategic assets are brought in, the situation becomes more serious,” the official warned. Indeed, the recently strained relations between South and North are very likely to return to their 2017 state if the exercises are resumed. The South Korea and US defense ministers appear likely to hold a video teleconference this month to discuss the methods for joint exercises in the second half of the year.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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