The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is due to dock at the South Korean port of Busan tomorrow, as Seoul warned of a greater threat from North Korea and held joint maritime drills with the US and Japan.
The carrier, which is expected to remain in Busan until Monday next week, would strengthen the defense posture of South Korea and the US in case of any North Korean provocations, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said.
The Ronald Reagan last visited South Korea last year for the first time in about four years, joining other military vessels in a show of might intended to send a message to North Korea.
Photo: AFP / South Korean Ministry of National Defense
North Korean state media KCNA yesterday criticized the deployment of US strategic assets, including submarines and bombers, in the Asia-Pacific region, while defending its plans for a spy satellite program as “indispensable.”
Pyongyang has twice failed to place a spy satellite in orbit, in May and August, and has vowed to try again as early as this month.
South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik told reporters yesterday that South Korea faces a more severe threat from North Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.
The visit of the carrier comes after the US pledged to enhance the “regular visibility” of its strategic military assets in the Washington Declaration, which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden issued during a summit in April.
The South Korean and US navies held joint maritime drills with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces in waters near South Korea’s Jeju Island on Monday and yesterday, the South Korean Navy said.
The drills, which are the first of their kind since 2016, are aimed at deterring and responding to North Korea’s “advancing nuclear and missile threats,” the navy said in a statement.
A meeting was also held on the Ronald Reagan on Sunday, attended by South Korean Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Kim Myung-soo and his US and Japanese counterparts, to discuss countermeasures to Pyongyang’s “underwater threats,” as well as its nuclear and missile programs.
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