US flies bombers, jets after North Korea test

South Korea said its air force conducted an exercise with two U.S. nuclear-capable bombers above the Korean peninsula on Aug. 31, two days after a North Korean missile fired over Japan sharply raised tensions.

The drills, involving two supersonic U.S. B-1B bombers, four U.S. stealth F-35B jets as well as South Korean fighter jets, came at the end of annual joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises focused mainly on computer simulations.

North Korea strongly objects to the exercises, which it sees as a preparation for invasion and has responded with a series of threats and missiles launches in recent weeks.

U.S. President Donald Trump has responded with his own threats, warning North Korea it would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States and that the U.S. military was "locked and loaded" in case of any provocation. 

Trump on Aug. 30 declared "talking is not the answer" to resolving the long-standing impasse with North Korea.

"The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years," Trump, who last week said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was "starting to respect" the United States, wrote on Twitter. 

"Talking is not the answer!"

However, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, when asked by reporters just hours later if the United States had run out of diplomatic solutions with North Korea, replied: "No." 

"We are never out of diplomatic solutions," Mattis said before a meeting with his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon. "We continue to work together, and the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations and our interests."

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera...