US warplanes fly off North Korea coast in new show of force

WASHINGTON: US bombers and fighter escorts flew off the coast of North Korea Saturday in a show of force against its nuclear weapons program, escalating already sky-high tensions.

The hermit state´s foreign minister, meanwhile, assailed US President Donald Trump at the United Nations, deriding him as a "mentally deranged" leader whose threats had increased the chances of military confrontation.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged increasingly bellicose rhetoric in recent days, as international alarm mounts over Pyongyang´s weapons ambitions -- including a hint this week that the country is considering detonating an H-bomb over the Pacific.

US bombers have carried out similar flights before, as the United States and the international community struggle to rein in North Korea´s weapons programs.

But in a new stage for such show of force operations, the Pentagon stressed this was the furthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas that any US fighter or bomber has flown off North Korea´s coast in this century.

"This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.

"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies."

The Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flown Saturday are based in Guam, and were accompanied by F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, White said.

They flew over international waters off the east coast of North Korea.

There was another reason for concern after an underground rumble near North Korea´s nuclear test site. China at first said it suspected an explosion.

But it was later ruled by a nuclear test ban watchdog and other experts to be a shallow 3.5-magnitude earthquake and likely an aftershock from the hermit state´s latest nuclear test on September 3.

This week saw a blistering war of words between Kim and Trump, with the US leader using his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly to warn that Washington would "totally destroy" the North if America or its allies were threatened.