U.S. Strategic Bomber Drills in South Korea During Trump's Visit to Asia

The U.S. Air Force said two U.S. B-1B strategic bombers were conducting exercises in South Korea on Thursday. A few days later, U.S. President Trump will visit South Korea on the occasion of the tense situation in the peninsula.

Image courtesy of a third party: On October 10, 2017, the U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber took off from Guam's airbase and joined the exercise activities of South Korean and Japanese warplanes near the Sea of Japan. Air Force Corps Jacob Skovo-Lane / U.S. Air Force / Handout via REUTERS
North Korea's Central News Agency first reported on Friday the military exercises and claimed that fighter jets from South Korea and Japan took part in the "exercise to launch a surprise nuclear strike."

North Korea's Central News Agency said: "The facts clearly show that it is the U.S. imperialist gangs that have intensified tensions in the Korean Peninsula and sought to launch a nuclear war."

Trump will arrive in Asia on Sunday for his first trip to Asia as the president. His first stop will be Japan, and will also visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

A series of missile tests by North Korea and the sixth and the largest nuclear test have become the most serious international challenge Trump has faced since he became the president of the United States.

U.S. officials said the goal of Trump's visit will be to seek broader international support and deprive North Korea of its resources as a means of forcing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.