US planes surveil North Korea amid country's ‘Christmas gift’ threat

The U.S. military sent four surveillance airplanes over the Korean peninsula on Christmas Eve after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a veiled threat of a possible missile launch. Four planes were spotted in the air above North Korea, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, after the country said it would send President Trump a “Christmas gift,” which many believe will be a test of several long-range missiles amid heightened tensions between Trump and Kim. The aircraft included an RC-135W Rivet Joint, an E-8C, an RQ-4 Global Hawk, and an RC-135S Cobra Ball, which flew as high as 53,000 feet above North Korea. They are believed to have carried out missions over and around the peninsula between Tuesday and early Wednesday.

The heavy surveillance is unusual for the region, but it seems to be a sign the United States is taking every precaution after the veiled threat. The president, however, didn’t seem too concerned about the situation. On Tuesday, Trump joked that he hoped Kim was getting him a vase for Christmas instead of a missile test. “We’ll find out what the surprise is, and we’ll deal with it very successfully. Everybody’s got surprises for me, but let’s see what happens. I handle them as they come along,” he said from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “Maybe it’s a nice present. Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test. I may get a vase. I may get a nice present from him. You don’t know. You never know.” The relationship between Trump and Kim has drifted closer to the tense back-and-forth exchanges that took place when the president first took office in 2017 and threatened to wipe “Rocket man” Kim off the map. The two were conciliatory for a few months following their historic summits, during which Trump negotiated the return of U.S. prisoners. The president even offered Kim a copy of Elton John’s record Rocket Man as a sign of their healed relationship. However, the two have since fallen out of step, as Kim refuses to denuclearize while Trump denies sanctions relief to the impoverished nation.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-planes-surveil-north-korea-amid-countrys-christmas-gift-threat

Four U.S. spy planes spotted flying over Korean Peninsula before Christmas