US nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, arrived today at Port of Busan, South Korea to hold joint military exercises this month with that country and Japan, South Korea’s navy announced.

The leaders of the three countries decided at a summit held in Camp David in August 2023 to hold annual military training exercises, while condemning China’s “dangerous and aggressive behavior” in the disputed South China Sea.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin visited North Korea this week for the first time in 24 years and signed an accord with its leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defense pledge.

It was one of Russia’s most significant moves in Asia in years, which Kim described as tantamount to an alliance.

This visit came seven months after the trip to South Korea by another US aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, in a sign of extended deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.