Kim Jong Un’s North Korea labeled the visit of a U.S. aircraft carrier to South Korea “an undisguised military provocation driving the situation to irrevocable catastrophic circumstances.”
What Happened: The USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group arrived in the South Korean port of Busan on a Thursday for a five-day visit, following allied exercises in the vicinity, Reuters reported. The visit was interpreted by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency as a sign of an impending U.S. nuclear attack, pushing the situation to “irrevocable catastrophic circumstances”.
Spokesman for the carrier strike group, Seth Koenig, stated the frequent visits to South Korea aimed at strengthening interoperability at sea towards shared goals of a free and open Indo Pacific.
The KCNA warned that in case of an imminent nuclear attack, North Korea would take “necessary action” to “thoroughly deter and repel U.S. and its stooges’ frantic moves to ignite a nuclear war.”
Our “most powerful and rapid first strike will be given to the ‘extended deterrence’ means, used by the U.S. to hallucinate its followers, and the bases of evil in the Korean peninsula and its vicinity,” KCNA said.
Why It Matters: The U.S. and South Korean forces have increased military exercises this year in response to the evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. These intensified drills have been perceived by North Korea as preparations for an invasion.
The news of this tension comes ahead of a two-day discussion between U.S., Japanese and South Korean nuclear envoys in the Indonesian capital to address the North Korean situation.
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