- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

US Supercarrier Patrols Near North Korea to Deter Military Moves by Pyongyang

CC0 / / USS Ronald Reagan
USS Ronald Reagan - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The USS Ronald Reagan’s presence off the coast of the Korean Peninsula in the Sea of Japan as part of previously reported naval and air force exercises with the South Korean navy is designed to persuade North Korea from taking military action, Reuters reported from aboard the ship Thursday.

“The dangerous and aggressive behavior by North Korea concerns everybody in the world,” says Rear Adm. Marc Dalton, commander of the carrier strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan. “We have made it clear with this exercise, and many others, that we are ready to defend [South Korea].”

North Korean Submarine Launches Missile Test - Sputnik International
North Korea Building New Ballistic Missile Submarine

North Korea has continued to test ballistic missiles and nuclear explosives despite continued international pressure to denuclearize. Pyongyang has maintained that outside pressure only strengthens its resolve to develop what it calls a strong nuclear deterrent.

The drills are taking place shortly before US President Donald Trump is slated to visit Asia. From November 3 to November 14, the president will make stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Hawaii, the White House said Monday. One question that has emerged as a source of debate within the administration concerns whether Trump should visit the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula. Some staffers worry the president may not be safe there, the Washington Post reported Thursday morning.

With Pyongyang and Washington trading bellicose threats against one another’s territories, 72 percent of US citizens are worried the US will go to war during the next four years, according to a Thursday NBC News/Survey Monkey poll. Approximately 54 percent of survey respondents were most concerned by the North Korean threat, a figure that’s jumped 13 percentage points since July, Axios’ Eric Pandey observed.

On Monday, Kim In-yong, a North Korean diplomatic official at the UN, told the UN General Assembly that nuclear war could happen at any moment. The following day, US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said direct talks with North Korea had not been ruled out.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала