On March 7th, following a North Korean underground nuclear test, the UN signed a new round of sanctions targeting Pyongyang. Kim Jong-Un offered his standard, calm, response, calling the sanctions an act of war, and threatening to plunge Seoul and Washington D.C. into a "sea" of nuclear flames. Since then, he's been rattling the sabre through speeches, anti-US propaganda films, and continued threats against the South.
So, today, the United States flew a pair of B-2 Spirit Stealth bombers over to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions on a Jikdo Islands range.
According to the military, the flight was a "long-duration, round-trip training mission" originating at Missouri's Whiteman Air Force Base, and was designed to demonstrate "the United States’ ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes quickly and at will."
The two bombers were inserted into a larger annual training exercsie, called "Foal Eagle," that will continue until late in April. However, virtually every international observer recognizes the well-promoted flight was less about training and more of an effort to "send a message" to Kim Jong-Un.
Here's the thing. As Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin points out, it wasn't cheap.