Seoul, Jun 20 (IANS): The US will send two strategic B-1 bombers to the Korean peninsula to take part in joint drills with the South Korean Air Force, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

The B-1s will carry out the drills with two F-15K fighters from the Korean Air force, reports Efe news.

The deployment of the bombers from the US Andersen air base on Guam island comes after the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who had been detained by North Korea last year and repatriated last week in a comatose state.

He fell into the coma shortly after his last public appearance during his March 2016 trial in Pyongyang, according to his family who reported his death on Monday.

North Korea maintains that Warmbier suffered an outbreak of botulism for which he was given a sleeping pill and he did not wake up again.

The US sent B-1 bombers to the Korean peninsula was on May 29, just hours after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile.

Observers say North Korea uses American citizens arrested there to try and exert pressure for concessions from the US.