North Korea warned Saturday that theU.S. redeployment of an aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula is causing a huge negative splash in regional security. It defended the recent missile tests as a righteous reaction to intimidate military drills between its rivals.
The North Korean Defense Ministry statement came one day after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan started a new round of naval drills with South Korean warships off the peninsula's east coast.
North Korea Is Blaming the Deployment Of a U.S. Aircraft Carrier For Latest Tensions
The Reagan, along with its battle group, returned to the area after a powerful missile North Korea fired over Japan earlier this week to protest the carrier group's previous training with South Korea.
Reagan's redeployment is an event with a considerably huge negative splash on the regional situation.
North Korea regards South Korean-U.S military exercises as an invasion rehearsal. It is susceptible if such drills involve U.S. strategic assets such as an aircraft carrier. North Korea argued it was forced to pursue a nuclear weapons program to cope with U.S. nuclear threats. U.S and South Korean officials have repeatedly said that they have no intentions of attacking the North.
North Korea has fired several missiles in recent weeks.
North Korea has fired ten ballistic missiles into the sea in the past two weeks, in five launch events, adding to this year's record-breaking pace of weapons. The recent weapons tests include a nuclear-capable missile that flew over Japan for the first time in five years that demonstrated a range to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.
Earlier this year, North Korea tested some other nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which placed the U.S. mainland and its allies Japan and South Korea within striking distance.
North Korea's testing spree indicates Kim Jong Un, its leader, does not intend diplomacy with the U.S. and also wants to focus on expanding his weapons arsenal. But some experts say Kim Jong would eventually aim to use his advanced nuclear program to wrest more significant outside concessions, like North Korea's recognition as a legitimate nuclear state, which Kim Jong thinks is essential to get the crippling U.N. sanctions on his country lifted.
The latest Reagan carrier group's training with the South Korean navy will end on Saturday.
Recently, South Korean officials said North Korea was also prepared to test a new submarine-launched ballistic missile and a liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile while maintaining readiness to perform its first underground nuclear test since 2017.
