US to Deploy Long-range Bombers Near DPRK

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 05, 2003

US to Deploy Long-range Bombers Near DPRK

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The United States is deploying two dozen long-range bombers near the Korean peninsula after a US spy plane was intercepted Sunday by four fighter jets from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), US defense officials said Tuesday.

A dozen B-52s bombers and a dozen B-1 bombers will be deployed to the US Pacific territory of Guam, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said the United States is considering whether to send fighter jet escorts with reconnaissance planes near DPRK.

"As a prudent gesture to bolster our defense posture and as a deterrent," the United States has ordered more military forces to northeast Asia, Davis said, noting "these moves are not aggressive in nature."

Two DPRK MiG29 fighters and two other aircraft intercepted the US air force RC-135 spy plane over the Sea of Japan on Sunday, one of which even locked its weapons-targeting radar onto the US plane, the spokesman told reporters Monday.

The US reconnaissance plane returned to its base in Okinawa, Japan, without incident. US officials said it was the first incident of a US plane being intercepted by DPRK aircraft in more than 30 years.

The previous incident happened in 1969, when a DPRK jet fighter shot down a US EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing more than 30 US airmen, according to a Pentagon official.

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