South Korea and the United States began joint maritime exercises with a US aircraft carrier on Friday, the South Korean military said – the activities, which take place in waters off South Korea’s east coast, are extend over the weekend.
The joint show of force is a response to North Korea, which on the fifth (6) fired ballistic missiles towards the sea and then flew warplanes close to the border with the South. Pyongyang had already launched a missile of the same type earlier this week, which flew over Japan before falling into the sea, prompting the local government to urge part of the population to seek shelter.
“We will continue to strengthen our operational capabilities and readiness to respond to any provocations from North Korea through joint exercises with the USS Ronald Reagan,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the US aircraft carrier and its warships attack set. The US strike group had already participated in military missile defense exercises this week, in conjunction with Japanese and South Korean warships.
Defense officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States discussed the latest moves in a call on Friday, Seoul said in a statement. The countries agreed that their joint military exercises improve their ability to respond to North Korea, and again condemned Pyongyang’s provocations.
In a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said North Korea’s provocations seriously threatened the region’s security.
Lee also had a meeting with senior officials to assess South Korea’s defense system, designed to counter military threats from its northern neighbor, including war plans that call for preemptive strikes if necessary. “He stressed the need to deliver a clear message that nuclear and missile development will only create a more difficult situation for North Korea,” the US Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The rare bombing exercise by at least eight North Korean fighter jets and four bombers on Thursday prompted Seoul to deploy 30 fighter jets — the warplanes briefly overran the border between the two countries.
On Thursday, North Korea condemned the United States for repositioning its aircraft carrier near the Korean peninsula, saying it posed a serious threat to stability.
In the statement, North Korea’s foreign ministry also criticized Washington for convening a United Nations Security Council meeting on the launches, saying they were a “just countermeasure” to joint US-South Korea exercises.
Due to the launch of the missiles on Tuesday, which triggered the crisis, for the first time since 2017 Tokyo issued an alert asking part of the population to seek shelter. “Please go inside a building or basement,” was the warning broadcast on TV in the Hokkaido and Aomori regions. The government also stopped train service in some areas in the north of the country.
North Korea is banned from carrying out nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the UN Security Council, which has tightened sanctions against Pyongyang to try to cut funding for these programs – which has not deterred the dictatorship, to the point of speculation. for the country to prepare a nuclear test for the coming weeks.
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