S
ince 1953 the conflict on the Korean
peninsula has officially been under
a ceasefire agreement, as no peace
treaty was ever signed after the three-year war
between North and South. Although most of
the past 65 years have been relatively quiet,
there have been a few notable exceptions.
Incidents in the past decade include North
Korea’s missile tests towards the Sea of
Japan, the sinking of the South Korean
corvette Cheonan with the death of 46 sailors
in 2010 and, in the same year, the North
Korean artillery bombardment of Yeonpyeong
Island, which killed several South Koreans.
Back in the 1980s, North Korea began trying
to develop nuclear weapons. Pyongyang
announced its first nuclear weapons test on
October 9, 2006, and follow-ons occurred
in 2009, 2013, 2016 and again last year.
Earlier this year, changes in the political
landscape, along with Pyongyang’s continued
pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles, put North Korea once again into the
news headlines. While a war of words between
President Donald Trump and North Korean
leader Kim Jong-un has more recently given
way to a potential rapprochement, military units
on the peninsula remain at very high readiness.Thirty-six miles
Located around 36 miles (56km) from the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Osan AB is home to
the most forward, permanently deployed fighter
squadron in the US Air Force. The mission of
the 36th Fighter Squadron (FS) ‘Fiends’ is to
uphold the armistice and deter aggression in a
war that, until recently, appeared never-ending.
Maj ‘Crush’ O’Connor is an experienced
‘Viper’ driver assigned to the ‘Fiends’ during#364 JULY 2018 // 47Above: F-16C Block 40 89-2060 ‘WP/8th FW’ and
acc ompanying 88-0465 ‘WP’ carry a typical load-
out of wingtip AIM-120 AMRAAMs, Air Combat
Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) pod, Sniper
pod, centreline ALQ-184 ECM pod and an AIM-9
Sidewinder – AIM-9X on 89-2060 and AIM-9M on 88-- All photos John Dibbs/The Plane Picture Company
Holding the line