IMAGES BETWEEN THE TWO LEADERS, ITS WEAPONS AND ITS ALLIES

U.S. bombers fly in international airspace over waters east of North Korea.

SEOUL, South Korea — It was meant to be a show of force that would demonstrate to North Korea the towering military prowess of the United States

Escorted by fighter jets, an undisclosed number of supersonic, long-range B-1B Lancer bombers were dispatched Saturday to fly up North Korea's eastern coast.

NBC News
Stella Kim and Alexander Smith

© Jason DeCrow/AP Photo - Aug 4: UNSC
The UNSC agreed to step up sanctions against North Korea over its missile program and deprive Pyongyang of $1bn in export revenue. The measures include a ban on exports of coal, lead and iron ore among others. (Pictured) The United Nations Security Council votes to pass new sanctions against North Korea during a meeting at U.N. headquarters.

© KCNA via Reuters - Aug. 9: Pyongyang - In response, North Korea said that they are considering a plan to attack the U.S. territory of Guam. (Pictured) Kim Jong Un inspects a long and medium-range ballistic rocket launch drill in this undated photo released by KCNA in Pyongyang on Aug. 30.

© Jonathan Ernst/Reuters - Aug. 9: North Korea will face ‘fire and fury,’ says Trump. As North Korea continued with military activity and advancement in nuclear warheads, Trump said that the country “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

© KCNA/Reuters - Aug. 26: Kim regime tests ballistic missiles. North Korea tested three short range ballistic missiles and fired a Hwasong-12 missile, which was the first to cross over Japan since 2009. (Pictured) Kim Jong-un watching the launch of a Hwasong-12 missile.

© Handout/South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images - Aug. 31: US and South Korea hold military drill. Washington and Seoul conducted air-to-ground defense drills in response to North Korea’s earlier ballistic missile launch. (Pictured) South Korea’s F-15K fighter jets drop bombs during a training at the Taebaek Pilsung Firing Range in Gangwon-do, South Korea.

© Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images - Sept. 2: Pressure tactics by US-South Korea
Soon after North Korea announced it had developed advanced nuclear weapons, Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in pledged to apply diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea and agreed to revise their bilateral missile treaty.

© Reuters/KCNA - Sept. 3: Pyongyang conducts 6th nuclear test
North Korea claimed that it tested its most powerful hydrogen bomb and reports suggested that the country had developed the technology to use miniaturized bombs mounted on long-range missiles to target the U.S. and its allies. Trump condemned the test and said that North Korea was “very hostile and dangerous to the United States.”
(Pictured) Kim Jong-un

© Stephanie Keith/Getty Images - Sept. 4: UNSC
The U.N. Security Council stepped up sanctions against North Korea over nuclear tests imposing a ban on textile exports and capping imports of crude oil. Addressing the council after a vote on sanctions, Haley (R) said that the U.S. was not looking for war with North Korea, and that Pyongyang had “not yet passed the point of no return.”

© Toru Hanai/Reuters - Sept. 15: Japan’s prime minister is briefed about test
Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera (C) met Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his official residence after North Korea’s missile launch, in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 15. (Pictured) Onodera (C) is surrounded by reporters as he arrives at Abe’s residence.

© Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters - Sept 15:
South Korea also reacted by holding military exercises near the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea

© Win McNamee/Getty Images - Sept. 15:
During a press briefing at the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 15, U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster (R) and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley (C) stressed that the Trump administration had the military might to stop North Korea, but added that it would not be the best option.

© Spencer Platt/Getty Images - Sept. 15:
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked China and Russia to take preventive measures against North Korea in the wake of the ICBM launch. He said, “China supplies North Korea with most of its oil [and] Russia is the largest employer of North Korean labor force. China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own.”

© Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Sept. 15: North Korea fires ICBM
North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) over Japan on Sept. 15, its first since the U.N. imposed sanctions on the country on Sept. 11. Flying 2,300 miles (3,700 km) before landing in the Pacific Ocean, the missile reportedly traveled the longest distance covered by any North Korean rocket.
(Pictured) A TV grab shows news about North Korea’s missile launch in Tokyo.

© South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images - Sept. 18: US-South Korea joint exercise
The U.S. and South Korea’s Air Force bombers flew off North Korea’s coast in a show of force on this day. The jets flew near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) for the first time since recent tension between the U.S. and North Korea started rising.
(Pictured) Fighter jets during a training at the Pilsung Firing Range in Gangwon-do, South Korea.

© Lucas Jackson/Lucas Jackson/REUTERS
Sept. 19: Trump’s UN General Assembly speech
Attacking the leadership of the Asian country for declaring that it would test nuclear and hydrogen bombs, Trump said at the U.N. headquarters in New York, “Rocket Man [Kim] is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”

© KCNA via Reuters
Sept. 22: Kim vows countermeasures
In a televised statement, the North Korean leader hit back at Trump and said that the White House would “pay dearly” for threats made against his regime. He added that North Korea “will consider with seriousness exercising of a corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.”

© Richard Drew/AP Images
Sept. 25: North Korea says Trump's speech was ‘declaration of war’
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho held a press conference in New York City, New York, U.S., and stated that Washington had “declared war” on his country when Trump spoke at the U.N. General Assembly. Ri threatened that the regime could shoot down American warplanes, even if they were not in its airspace, to protect Pyongyang.