In a statement, the South Korean Navy said it intends to use the four-day exercise to refer to the alliance between Seoul and Washington, which is strong enough to “respond to North Korea’s provocations.”
More than 20 US and South Korean warships are participating in the operation. The USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered steam-powered aircraft carrier entered the eastern port city of Busan in South Korea on Friday to participate in joint exercises in waters off the Korean Peninsula for the first time in five years.
US and South Korean warplanes will also participate in the military exercises.
Since 2017, this is the first joint military exercise in which a US aircraft carrier also participates.
In recent years, the allies have scaled back these operations, hoping for the success of inter-Korean talks, as well as due to the coronavirus epidemic.
North Korea has accelerated its missile tests this year: Since January, it has tested more than 30 short-range ballistic missiles, as well as – for the first time since 2017 – ICBMs.
As we reported, North Korea launched a ballistic missile off its east coast on Sunday, ahead of scheduled military exercises by South Korean and US forces and US Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to the region.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Defense, the missile, which was launched from near Pyongyang towards the sea (east) of Japan, traveled 600 km and reached an altitude of 50 km.
The cover photo is an illustration. In this July 14, 2020, photo, a fourth-generation F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft from the U.S. Air Force’s VFA-195 Squadron approaches the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan during a military exercise in the South Sea China on July 25. On July 13, 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described China’s territorial claims to 3.5 million square kilometers of the South China Sea as illegal. Photo by MTI/EPA/US Naval Information Office/MC2 Samantha Jetzer
