Mon Jan 11,
2016 4:51am EST Related: WORLD, SOUTH
KOREA
Reuters
The United States and its ally South Korea were discussing on Monday sending more
strategic U.S. weapons to
the Korean peninsula, a day after a U.S. B-52 bomber flew over South Korea in response to North Korea 's
nuclear test last week.
In a show
of force and support for allies in the region, the United
States on Sunday sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber based
in Guam on a flight over South
Korea .
South
Korean media said the United
States may send to South Korea B-2 bombers,
nuclear-powered submarines and F-22 stealth fighter jets.
A South
Koran defense ministry spokesman declined to give details.
"The United States and South Korea are continuously and
closely having discussions on additional deployment of strategic assets,"
the spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said.
"Safeguarding
the peace and stability of northeast Asia
accords with all parties' interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said in response to a question about the U.S. B-52 flight.
"We
hope all parties can maintain restraint, proceed cautiously, and avoid
successively escalating tensions."
'HIGHEST
LEVEL READINESS'
The
chairman of South Korea 's
Joint Chiefs of Staff warned that North Korea was likely to carry out
further "sudden provocations", a South Korean defense ministry
official said.
The
commander of the 28,500 U.S.
troops in South Korea ,
General Curtis Scaparrotti, urged them to be vigilant.
"I
want you to maintain the highest level readiness from a long-term view as joint
military exercises are coming up," Scaparrotti told U.S. and South Korean forces on a visit to a
base, a U.S.
military official said.
He was
apparently referring to joint annual military exercises that usually begin in February
or March and invariably provoke an angry reaction from North Korea .
On the
diplomatic front, South Korea
said its chief nuclear negotiator planned to meet his U.S. and Japanese counterparts on Wednesday to
discuss a response to North Korea ,
and the next day, he would meet China 's
nuclear envoy in Beijing .
The
complex, where South Korean factories employ North Korean workers, is an
important source of revenue for the impoverished North.
(Additional
reporting by Michael Martina in BEIJING ;
Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel)
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