The US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and other warships yesterday started joint exercises with Japan, the US Navy said, as regional tensions rise over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.
The exercises — also involving a US guided-missile cruiser and guided-missile destroyer — are being held in the Philippine Sea, the US Navy said, as the naval strike group “continued its northern transit in the Western Pacific.”
Pyongyang reacted defiantly.
Photo: AP
State newspaper Minju Joson quoted what it called military sources as saying Washington plans to station “several nuclear carrier task forces” off the Korean Peninsula this week.
“The army of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] already declared it will deal merciless destructive blows at the enemies so that they would not come back to life again should they make reckless provocation,” the paper said.
The USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group and the Japanese navy “commenced an at-sea bilateral exercise in the Philippine Sea,” the US Navy wrote on its Facebook page.
The joint drill is designed to “ensure maritime forces remain ready to defend the region when called upon,” it said.
“Seeing the threats we are facing now, it is no surprise that Japan and the United States conduct joint exercises,” Japanese senior lawmaker Toshimitsu Motegi of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party told Japan’s NHK public broadcaster, adding the exercises would send a “strong message.”
The Carl Vinson drills, expected to last several days, involve two Japanese warships, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said.
US Vice President Mike Pence, during a regional tour last week that ended in Australia, and other US officials have said that “all options are on the table” to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has also renewed threats against regional US allies, including Japan and South Korea, which both host large US military contingents.
Even Australia has been cautioned.
“If Australia persists in following the US’ moves to isolate and stifle North Korea ... this will be a suicidal act,” a North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said after Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop called the nation a “serious threat.”
On a visit to Athens, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) called for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
“China is firmly supporting the denuclearization of the area in the name of stability and peace,” Wang told reporters after meeting Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias. “China may not have the key to this solution ... but we are happy that more sides are accepting our point of view.”
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that a US citizen had been arrested as he tried to fly out of North Korea, becoming the third American to be detained there.
“It is important for them to hold a US citizen hostage at this point to prevent Washington from carrying out a decapitation of [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un,” former defector Ahn Chan-il told reporters, referring to the North’s fears that the US plans a secret military strike to topple its leader. “It’s also a resolve to point a double-action revolver against the US and China because he is a US citizen who worked in China.”
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