US nuclear-capable bombers fly over S. Korea

Just days after North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test, the US has flown nuclear-capable supersonic bombers over territory of its ally South Korea. The United Nations Security Council is planning fresh sanctions on Pyongyang because of the test.

The B-1 bombers were escorted by US and South Korean jets on Tuesday morning as they flew over the Osan Air Base, which is 77 kilometers (48 miles) from the Demilitarised Zone border with the North and about 40 kilometers from the South's capital Seoul.

The bombers were expected to return to their base in Guam without landing in South Korea.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said heavy crosswinds prevented the jets from taking off on Monday, when the fly-over was first scheduled.

Sung Kim, the US special envoy on North Korea, condemned the country's "blatant and reckless disregard" of its international obligations.

Severe flooding diverts troops

There has been severe flooding in North Korea forcing more than 100,000 people to leave their homes and killing 133 people, with hundreds more missing.

Brigades of soldiers have been deployed to help victims in the flood area in Musan and Yonsa counties around the Tumen River that runs along the Chinese border in the northern tip of the country. Flooding began on August 29, caused by Typhoon Lionrock.

"The country's manpower and material and technical potential are now concentrated on the flood damage rehabilitation," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.

North Korean media said it was the worst single case of downpours and high winds since 1945 with more than 35,500 houses, schools and public buildings damaged, widespread inundation of farmland and at least 140,000 people in urgent need of assistance.

North Korea already has chronic food shortages, and thousands of hectares of farmland have now been inundated just weeks before the rice and maize harvests.

jm/gsw (Reuters, AP)