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US flies mission in airspace east of North Korea

Posted at 11:10 AM, Sep 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-23 14:10:35-04

The Pentagon says B-1B bombers from Guam and F-15 fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, have flown a mission in international airspace over the waters east of North Korea.
    
The U.S. says it's the farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula that any American fighter or bomber has flown this century.
    
Defense Department spokesman Dana White says in a statement that the mission shows how seriously the U.S. takes what he calls North Korea's "reckless behavior."
    
His statement says the flights are a "demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message" that President Donald Trump "has many military options to defeat any threat."
    
White says "we are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies."