SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea Saturday for a three-way exercise involving Japan as they step up military training to deal with North Korean threats, which have escalated after a security pact with 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 promises mutual defense assistance in the event of war. South Korea says the deal poses a threat to its security and has warned it could consider sending weapons to Ukraine to help combat the Russian invasion in response – a move that would certainly ruin its relations with Moscow.
Following a meeting between their defense chiefs in Singapore in early June, the United States, South Korea and Japan announced the Freedom Edge exercises.
Roosevelt’s strike group will participate in the exercise that is expected to begin in June. The South Korean 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 enhance the ships’ tactical proficiency 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 “severe willingness to respond to growing North Korean threats.” The aircraft carrier’s visit comes seven months after another US aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, arrived in South Korea in a show of force against the North.
The Roosevelt strike group also participated in a tripartite exercise with South Korean and Japanese naval forces in April in the disputed East China Sea, where concerns about China’s territorial claims are growing.
In the face of growing North Korean threats, the United States, South Korea and Japan have expanded their combined training 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 been updating their nuclear deterrence strategies, with Seoul seeking stronger assurances that Washington would quickly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to defend its ally from a North Korean nuclear attack.
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