This is nothing new, the U-2 has been monitoring North Korea for decades:
A U.S. reconnaissance plane flew above the Korean Peninsula over the weekend, an aviation tracker said Sunday, in an apparent sign of beefed-up surveillance of North Korea following its recent test-firing of a multiple rocket launcher.
The U.S. Air Force’s U-2S plane was spotted flying at an altitude of around 15,240 meters over the Seoul metropolitan area, northern Gangwon Province and central Chungcheong Province on Saturday, according to Aircraft Spots.
The plane, nicknamed the Dragon Lady, is known to have carried out a surveillance mission over areas surrounding the heavily fortified inter-Korean border with an aim to monitor North Korea’s front-line military activities.
Before the North’s test-firing of what it calls a super-large multiple rocket launcher Thursday, the U.S. military operated several surveillance planes over the peninsula.
Yonhap
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A U-2 ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraftlands at the the U.S. air force’s Osan air base, south of Seoul, after a mission on April 24, 2017, one day ahead of the anniversary of the foundation of the North Korean army. Concerns are mounting on the possibility of the North’s sixth nuclear test on the occasion of the anniversary. (Yonhap)
Considering all their recent missile test activity conducting increased reconnaissance makes sense:
The United States’ forces stationed in South Korea have expanded their aerial reconnaissance along the inter-Korean border following North Korea’s recent launch of Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM), official sources said Monday.
On June 22, North Korea fired two Musudan missiles from its eastern coastal city of Wonsan. The first missile reportedly blew up shortly after launch, but the second one soared to an altitude of some 1,400 kilometers before flying 400 km and hitting the East Sea. Pyongyang has declared the second launch a success, and with a range of 3,000 to 4,000 km, the IRBM could reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam.
Since the latest launch, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) had been sending two U-2S ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft to conduct daily surveillance missions along the inter-Korean military demarcation line, USFK officials said.
Before the launch, only one U-2S was sent into the air to conduct reconnaissance.
The reconnaissance aircraft, nicknamed Dragon Lady, monitors, videotapes and sometimes wiretaps North Korea’s military activities from an altitude of some 20 km on a flight mission that could last up to eight hours. The U-2S can see 60-70 km inside North Korea while still flying outside the country’s airspace. [Yonhap]
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A U-2 spy plane takes off from Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Feb. 14, 2016. (Yonhap)
A U.S. high-altitude manned surveillance plane, the U-2, is ready to make a sortie at an airbase in the Seoul metropolitan area on Aug. 22, 2015, as North Korea has given a 48-hour ultimatum for South Korea to end propaganda broadcasts along the heavily fortified border and dismantle all loudspeakers, otherwise it will launch “a strong military action.” (Yonhap)
