S. Korea, U.S. add military pressure on N. Korea after nuke test

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- Four days after North Korea's provocative nuclear test earlier this week, the United States flew its strategic bunker-busting bomber B-52 across the skies of South Korea Sunday as the allies move to corner the communist country in an unusually swift manner. The flight of the B-52 Stratofortress came in addition to South Korea's retaliatory resumption of loudspeaker broadcasting campaign along the inter-Korean border on Friday. Two days after the North conducted what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, the South Korean military restarted the long-time psychological warfare tactic, airing messages critical of the North Korean dictatorship and leader Kim Jong-un in what can be the most threatening unmilitary assault from Seoul. The B-52 bomber departed from its home base in Guam, armed with nuclear long-range air-to-ground missiles, and conducted around noon a low-level flight over U.S. Osan Base, some 55 kilometers south of the capital Seoul. The local deployment of the strategic bomber has been met with hysteric protests from the North, especially for its capability to load bunker busting bombs that can penetrate and destroy underground North Korean commanding facilities from afar. The allies took about 30 days before bringing the strategic bomber over to the Korean Peninsula when the North conducted its previous, third nuclear test on Feb. 12, 2013. "The speedier-than-expected deployment of a U.S. strategic asset shows the U.S. intention that it will retaliate severely if North Korea makes further provocations," one South Korean military official said on condition of anonymity. Only hours following the North Korean nuclear test, U.S. Defense Secretary expressed the U.S.' "ironclad" commitment to the defense of South Korea against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, promising to provide the ally with "every means of extended deterrence." The nuclear bomber is one of the U.S.' three-pillar "nuclear umbrella" for the nuclear-free South, along with nuclear-loaded inter-continental ballistic missile and submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missile. Sources said the U.S. is considering additional deployment of its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the waters of South Korea possibly in February in an extended show of force to pressure and deter North Korea from further military actions. The quickening counteractions match up with unusually swift steps by South Korea, the U.S. and Japan being taken in the United Nations' Security Council to introduce "differentiated" high-level sanctions on the North for the latest nuclear test. One major obstacle appears set to get in their way, however, as China displayed subtle reservations about the push for punitive actions. China has called for peace, stability and dialogue in the process to deal with the aftermath of the North Korean nuclear test and said it will cooperate with the international community in seeking "suitable" measures, striking a subtly different tone from the South Korea-led calls for "differentiated" actions. pbr@yna.co.kr (END)