US bombers fly over Korean Peninsula

A pair of American strategic bombers flew over South Korea Sunday, as the allies demonstrated their strength in the face of North Korea's growing nuclear threat.

The two B1-Bs were dispatched from their base in Guam before being joined by Japanese and then South Korean fighter jets. Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have been united in their opposition to North Korea's repeated nuclear and missile tests -- the latest of which involved an intercontinental ballistic missile late Friday night.

"Our air force maintains the precision-strike capability and readiness to burn the enemy's missile base and its key facilities, including its leadership stronghold to the ground," South Korean Air Force Operations Commander Lt. Gen. Won In-cheol said in a statement carried by local news agency Yonhap.

"If the enemy provokes, we will respond immediately and retaliate powerfully," he added.

A U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson earlier revealed the allies were weighing military options following the North's second-ever successful ICBM launch -- both were launched within a month of each other.

But strengthened sanctions are the expected outcome beyond the use of American strategic bombers as a show of force, a tactic also adopted after previous North Korean provocations.