A US aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Friday for the first time in almost five years, ahead of joint drills in a show of force against the nuclear-armed north.
The nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan and ships from its strike group docked in the southern port city of Busan, part of a push by Seoul and Washington to operate more strategic US assets in the region.
South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has vowed to step up joint military exercises with the United States after years of failed diplomacy with North Korea under his predecessor.
“The dispatch of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to Busan demonstrates the strength of the South Korea-US alliance,” a South Korean defense ministry official told AFP.
The visit is aimed at “defending North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” the official added.
Pyongyang has conducted a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests this year and earlier this month revised its nuclear law, enshrining a “first strike” doctrine and vowing never to give up its nuclear weapons.
The US Navy said the USS Ronald Reagan will be accompanied on the visit to South Korea by two ships from its task force — the USS Chancellorsville, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Barry, a guided missile destroyer.
They will take part in joint drills on South Korea’s east coast this month, Yonhap news agency said, adding that the nuclear-powered submarine USS Annapolis is also scheduled to take part.
The airline’s visit comes after months of warnings from South Korean and US officials that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing for another nuclear test.
The isolated regime has tested nuclear weapons six times since 2006. The latest and most powerful, in 2017 – which Pyongyang dubbed a hydrogen bomb – had an estimated yield of 250 kilotons.
Washington is Seoul’s main security ally, stationing about 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it from the North.
The two countries have long held joint drills that they claim are purely defensive, but North Korea sees them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Last month, the United States and South Korea conducted their largest combined military exercises since 2018 – the resumption of large-scale training sessions that had been scaled back due to Covid-19 and failed diplomacy with Pyongyang.
