Trump is about to put his mark on the US nuclear arsenal

**This image is for use with this specific article only.** While President Donald Trump rattles sabers on Twitter and slams "Rocket Man" Kim Jong Un, there is also a perceptible hardening of tone among senior officials.

The South Korean Air Force said in a press release today that South Koreas four F-15K fighters from Daegu Air Base carried out a joint drill this afternoon with US Air Force's two B-1B bombers from Guam and the US Marine Corps' four F-35B aircraft based in Japan. They conducted an air-to-ground bombing drill, which simulates a surgical strike of key enemy facilities, over the Pilseung range in the eastern province of Gangwon. The South Korean and the US Air Forces carried out a joint air defense exercise this afternoon on Aug. 31 to strongly counter North Koreas relatedly launches of ballistic missiles and development of nuclear weapons.

(FILES) A picture taken in 1971 shows a nuclear explosion in Mururoa atoll. France said on March 24, 2009 it will compensate 150,000 victims of nuclear testing carried out in the 1960s in French Polynesia and Algeria, after decades of denying its responsibility. An initial sum of 10 million euros (14 million dollars) has been set aside for military and civilian staff as well as local populations who fell ill from radiation exposure, Defence Minister Herve Morin told Le Figaro newspaper. AFP PHOTO FILES / STRINGER (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

ISFAHAN, IRAN - MARCH 30: A worker walks inside of an uranium conversion facility March 30, 2005 just outside the city of Isfahan, about 254 miles (410 kilometers), south of capital Tehran, Iran. The cities of Isfahan and Natanz in central Iran are home to the heart of Iran's nuclear program. The facility in Isfahan makes hexaflouride gas, which is then enriched by feeding it into centrifuges at a facility in Natanz, Iran. Iran's President Mohammad Khatami and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Gholamreza Aghazadeh is scheduled to visit the facilities. (Photo by Getty Images)