This Sunday North Korea openly threatened to sink a US aircraft carrier that has begun to partake in drills with two Japanese destroyers in the western Pacific Ocean.
The USS Carl Vinson—US aircraft carrier which was recently re-routed to go towards the Korean Peninsula—will be joined by the Japanese Ashigara and Samidare destroyers in waters near the Philippines. According to the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, the purpose of this is for the forces to be able to do “tactical training” drills together.
North Korea’s state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, has alleged in an editorial the nation is prepared to concretely display its “military force” through the fear-inducing act of sinking a “nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike.”
The North Korean state newspaper asserted that the nation has weaponry which “can reach continental US and Asia Pacific region” and the “absolute weapon,” hydrogen bomb.
In light of recent escalation in tensions regarding relations with North Korea, Trump had previously revealed that the USS Carl Vinson carrier group was being deployed to waters very close to the Korean peninsula—especially prompted by the degradation in relations between the two following the increase in North Korean displays of nuclear force. Following Trump’s divulging of the location of the USS Carl Vinson near Korea on April 12th, the decision of the US president has attracted attention from global outlets.
Trump declared that he was dispatching “an armada” to Korean waters so that it would be prepared to deal with any impending threats from North Korea. This statement followed the announcement by Pyongyang that it had been able to effectively launch a novel ballistic missile.
“We are sending an armada. Very powerful,” Trump revealed to Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo. “We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That I can tell you.”
However, it has since been discovered that the carrier convey was not truly sent to the region with the intent of heading towards the peninsula, per se, but rather planning to partake in joint exercises with the Australian navy.
The US Pacific Command stated this past Tuesday that training with the Australian navy had been finalized, and that “the Carl Vinson Strike Group is heading north to the Western Pacific as a prudent measure.”
US defense officials told CNN the USS Carl Vinson and its carrier group were set to reach shores just off the Korean Peninsula by the close of April.
Since then, the US Navy announced last Thursday that it had decided to prolong the deployment of the Vinson’s by about 30 days “to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula.”
The threats made to the US by North Korea on Sunday are compatible with those recently made by North Korea over the course of the last few weeks. North Korea has declared that it is prepared to address any US attack on the nation on the same token. Additionally, North Korea has asserted that it would not hesitate to strike the US mainland and US carriers and forces in the region, especially US bases in Seoul and Tokyo.
Featured Image via Wikimedia.
