A nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Saturday for a three-way exercise involving Japan as it stepped up military training to deal with North Korean threats, which have intensified following a security pact with the Russia.
The arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group in Busan came a day after South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest a major deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week.
The agreement provides for mutual assistance in the event of war.
South Korea says the deal poses a threat to its security and has warned it may consider sending weapons to Ukraine to help fight the Russian invasion in response – a move that would surely ruin its relations with Moscow.
Following a meeting of defense chiefs in Singapore in early June, the United States, South Korea and Japan announced the Freedom Edge exercises.
The Roosevelt strike group will participate in the exercise which is expected to begin by June. South Korea’s military did not immediately confirm specific details of the training.
Rear Admiral. Christopher Alexander, commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine, said the exercise aims to sharpen the ships’ tactical prowess and improve interoperability between countries’ navies “to ensure we are ready to respond to any crisis and contingency.”
South Korea’s navy said in a statement that the aircraft carrier’s arrival demonstrates the allies’ strong defense posture and “tough resolve to respond to advancing North Korean threats.”
The carrier’s visit comes seven months after another American carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, arrived in South Korea for a show of force against the North.
The Roosevelt strike group also participated in a three-way exercise with South Korean and Japanese naval forces in April in the disputed East China Sea, where concerns over China’s territorial claims are growing.
Faced with growing North Korean threats, the United States, South Korea and Japan have expanded their combined formation and increased the visibility of US strategic military assets in the region, seeking to intimidate the North.
The United States and South Korea have also updated their nuclear deterrence strategies, with Seoul seeking more assurances that Washington will quickly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to defend its ally from a North Korean nuclear attack. [AP]
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