(RightWing.org) – Tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to escalate in the wake of Kim Jong-un’s repeated calls for increased military strength accompanied by advanced new weapons technology. As a result, the Pentagon recently fired a warning shot over the rogue nation’s bow via the launch of a carrier strike force.
On Tuesday, April 12, US Seventh Fleet spokesperson Commander Hayley Sims sent an email to the Navy Times discussing ongoing joint training exercises with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Korean Peninsula’s Sea of Japan. The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, heads up the US Navy’s strike force for the operation.
USS Abraham Lincoln operating in Sea of Japan following North Korea missile tests https://t.co/caQfXiC96H
— Navy Resources (@NavyResources) April 12, 2022
Cmdr. Sims characterized the operation as routine training that “enhances the credibility of conventional deterrence” and reassures allies of the United States’ commitment to “maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
However, The Hill reported that the US Navy hadn’t conducted a training exercise in the region since late 2017, when the USS Nimitz, USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt conducted defensive air combat training, sea surveillance exercises, and air defense drills.
North Korea has spoken out against previous US-led exercises in the region, calling them a rehearsal for war and unnecessarily provocative.
What do you think? Do you believe a show of force in the Korean Peninsula helps or hinders ongoing diplomacy between the US and North Korea?
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