A North Korean man carries his country’s national flag after celebrations of the “Day of the Shining Star” or birthday anniversary of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016. Park warned Tuesday that North Korea faces a collapse if it does not abandon its nuclear program, in unusually strong language that will likely infuriate Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea – Four U.S. F-22 stealth fighters flew low over South Korea on Wednesday in a clear show of force against North Korea, a day after South Korea’s president warned of the North’s collapse amid a festering standoff over its nuclear and missile ambitions.
The high-tech planes capable of sneaking past radar undetected were seen by an Associated Press photographer before they landed at Osan Air Base near Seoul. They were escorted by other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets.
Pyongyang will likely view the arrival of the planes flown from a U.S. base in Japan as a threat as they are an apparent display of U.S. airpower aimed at showing what the United States can do to defend its ally South Korea from potential aggression from North Korea.
“The F-22 ‘Raptor’ is the most capable air superiority fighter in the world, and it represents one of many capabilities available for the defense of this great nation,” Lt. Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, deputy commander of the U.S. military command in South Korea, said in a statement.
“The U.S. maintains an ironclad commitment” to the defense of South Korea, he said.