TEHRAN, YJC.-- The United States has sent F-22 stealth fighter planes to join maneuvers with South Korea amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The US military command in South Korea
said in a statement that the advanced, radar-evading F-22 Raptors were
deployed to Osan Air Base, the main US Air Force base in South Korea, on
Sunday press TV reported.
US officials said the jets were deployed as part of Washington's
commitment to defend Seoul in the face of military threats by North
Korea.
On Saturday, Pyongyang announced that it is in a "state of war” with
South Korea, warning that any provocation by Seoul and Washington will
trigger an all-out nuclear war.
Pyongyang said henceforth "the North-South relations will be
entering a state of war and all issues raised between the North and the
South will be handled accordingly."
"The long-standing situation of the Korean Peninsula being neither
at peace nor at war is finally over," said a statement issued jointly by
the government, political parties and other organizations.
Pyongyang also warned that if Washington and Seoul launched a
preemptive attack, the conflict "will not be limited to a local war, but
develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war."
On Tuesday, North Korea said that its military should be prepared to
attack "all US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region, including the
US mainland, Hawaii, and Guam" and South Korea.
The announcement came days after South Korea and the US signed a new
military pact in response to what they called even low-level
provocations by Pyongyang.
On March 11, Seoul and Washington launched a week-long annual joint
military maneuver near the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from
Pyongyang. The maneuver involved 10,000 South Korean soldiers and about
3,000 US troops.