Alex Lockie
Defense officials at the highest levels of South Korea's government told Yonhap News on Wednesday that the US would deploy "strategic assets" to the peninsula amid tensions with North Korea.
"The US has pledged to expand the rotational deployment of its strategic assets near the Korean Peninsula," Chung Eui-young, the chief of the National Security Office said according to Yonhap.
While "strategic assets" can refer to nuclear weapons, it can also mean nuclear-powered submarines, aircraft carriers, or stealth aircraft. Chung said the deployment could happen as early as the end of 2017.
Another South Korean publication, Chosun, reported on Tuesday that a government source said the US may send an aircraft carrier, B-2 stealth bombers, and the world's stealthiest and most lethal combat plane, the F-22 Raptor.
The talk of increased US firepower in South Korea comes after North Korea interpreted some of President Donald Trump's tweets as a declaration of war, and announced it would try to shoot down US bombers flying anywhere near its airspace.
As it stands, the US has B-1B Lancer bombers stationed in Guam that frequently respond to North Korean missile or nuclear tests by doing flybys near its borders accompanied by advanced US, Japanese, or South Korean jets.
But the B-1B isn't nuclear capable, nor is it stealth. The B-2, however, has both.
https://scout.com/military/warrior/Article/US-May-Send-B-2-Bombers-and-F-22-Stealth-Jets-to-South-Korea-108121029
