US carrier arrives in South Korea amid rising tensions in region

A US aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Sunday in a show of force, days after North Korea test-launched cruise missiles to demonstrate its counterattack capabilities.

The arrival of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group at the South Korean port of Busan was meant to display a solid US-South Korean military alliance in the face of persistent North Korean threats, and boost interoperability of the allies’ combined assets, the South Korean navy said in a statement.

It said it was the first US aircraft carrier to travel to South Korea since June.

The deployment of the carrier is expected to infuriate North Korea, which views temporary deployments of such powerful US military assets as major security threats. North Korea has responded to some of the past deployments of US aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and nuclear-powered submarines with missile tests.

Since his Jan.20 inauguration, US President Donald Trump has said he will reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again to revive diplomacy.

North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture but alleged US-led hostilities against North Korea have intensified since Trump’s inauguration.

North Korea said on Friday it test-fired strategic cruise missiles earlier last week to inform its adversaries of its military’s counterattack capability and the readiness of its nuclear operations.

After watching the launches, the North’s fourth missile testing event this year, Kim said the military must be fully ready to use its nuclear weapons

Experts say Kim won’t likely accept Trump’s overture anytime soon as he is now focusing on his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with provision of weapons and troops.

They say Kim could consider resuming diplomacy with Trump when he thinks he cannot maintain his country’s current booming cooperation with Russia.

Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 during Trump’s first term to discuss the future of North Korea’s nuclear programme.

Their high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed due to wrangling over US-led economic sanctions on North Korea.

Recently, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met a senior North Korean official in Moscow, Pyongyang’s state media said on Saturday.

The meeting on Thursday occurred on the same day that South Korea’s spy agency said the North had dispatched more troops to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine, without disclosing how many.

Seoul’s intelligence also said North Korea had redeployed its soldiers to the front line in Kursk, where Ukraine previously said they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.

Ri Hi Yong, a member of North Korea’s Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, met Putin in the Kremlin, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

During the meeting, Putin thanked North Korea for “its positive support to the Russian Federation,” it said.

The Kremlin confirmed the meeting in a statement on Thursday.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has officially acknowledged that North Koreans have been deployed to fight against Ukraine.

The two countries have boosted their military cooperation since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

European leaders threw their support behind Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday after a televised spat at the White House between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump cast doubts over efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Recently, North Korea’s Defence Ministry alleged the US and its allies were ramping up more serious military provocations targeting North Korea since Trump took power.

It cited the recent US-South Korean aerial exercise involving a US B-1B bomber and other reported activities involving US military assets.

A Defence Ministry statement said North Korea will counter the strategic threat of the US with strategic means.

Agencies