the United States Air Force has deployed six nuclear-capable B52 bombers to Guam as North Korea derides President Donald Trump as a 'lunatic'.
The B-52H Stratofortress bombers and approximately 300 airmen from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana arrived in Guam on Tuesday, in 'routine' support of US Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence mission, said the Air Force.
The B-52 is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordce.
Pacific Command has conducted continuous bomber presence missions since 2004, and the Stratofortress bombers will take over operations in Guam for the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1B Lancers, deployed from Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota.
A B-52H Stratofortress bomber is seen landing at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Tuesday
The Stratofortress bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana arrived in Guam on Tuesday, in 'routine' support of US Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence mission
The B-52 is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordce
Though the show of force came as Winter Olympics talks between North and South Korea signaled improving relations on the peninsula, the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington DC continued to heat up.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the country about the possibility of a military response if the state does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons.
'We have to recognize that the threat is growing and that if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation then they themselves will trigger an option,' he stated.
Meanwhile, North Korea's state-run media said Trump's infamous tweet about having a bigger nuclear button than leader Kim Jong Un's is the 'spasm of a lunatic'.
Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party newspaper, lashed out at Trump in a commentary on Tuesday that took issue with the United States president's January 3 tweet that 'I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!'
'The spasm of Trump in the new year reflects the desperate mental state of a loser who failed to check the vigorous advance of the army and people of the DPRK,' the Rodong Sinmun commentary said, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea's state-run media said Trump's infamous tweet about having a bigger nuclear button than leader Kim Jong Un's is the 'spasm of a lunatic'
Kim Jong-un's regime has opened up talks with South Korea over the Winter Olympics, but has remained hostile in rhetoric towards the United States
'He is making (a) bluff only to be diagnosed as a psychopath,' the commentary continued, using a tone typical for the country's media.
Rodong Sinmun also recently ran a story about the book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,' which casts the president as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of his office and whose competence is questioned by aides. Trump and other White House officials have blasted it as inaccurate.
The title of the book comes from a Trump quote about North Korea.
Last summer, Trump threatened North Korea with 'fire and fury like the world has never seen' in an exchange of taunts with the North, which claimed it was examining plans to launch missiles toward the American territory of Guam.
The book's sales reflect 'rapidly surging anti-Trump sentiments in the international community,' the article stated. 'The anti-Trump book is sweeping all over the world so Trump is being massively humiliated worldwide.'
The book's popularity 'foretells Trump's political demise,' it concluded.