Seoul, South Korea CNN —
A US Navy aircraft carrier strike group is moving into waters off the Korean Peninsula as tensions rise following a series of missile launches by North Korea over the past two weeks, they South Korean security officials say.
South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency meeting on Thursday after North Korea launched two more short-range ballistic missiles, the sixth such launch in 12 days, the the country’s presidential office in a statement.
The NSC warned that North Korea’s provocation will face a stronger response, as evidenced by the redeployment of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group to the East Sea, also known as the sea from Japan, following Pyongyang’s launch of an intermediate system on Tuesday. – range ballistic missile (IRBM) that flew over Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also said Wednesday that the U.S. carrier strike group would redeploy to the waterway, in what it called a “highly unusual” move that meant ” show the determined will of the SK-US alliance to respond decisively.” to any provocation or threat from North Korea.”
Asked about South Korea’s statement on Reagan’s movements, a spokesman for the US 7th Fleet told CNN: “The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is currently operating in the Sea of Japan.” The Navy said it did not comment on future operations.
South Korea’s statement on the movements of the US Navy strike group prompted a harsh response from Pyongyang.
“The DPRK is observing that the US poses a serious threat to the stability of the situation on and around the Korean Peninsula by redeploying the carrier task force to the waters of the Korean Peninsula,” says a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea. to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Pyongyang’s missile launches on Thursday are the 24th this year, including ballistic and cruise missiles, the highest annual number since Kim Jong Un took power in 2012.
It followed closely on the heels of the isolated country’s highly provocative launch on Tuesday, when North Korea fired a ballistic missile without warning over Japan, its first in five years, prompting Tokyo to call on the North’s residents to take shelter.
The United States and South Korea responded with missile launches and drills around the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speaking Wednesday during a trip to South America, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that if North Korea continues “down this path” of provocation, “it will only increase condemnation, increase isolation and will increase the steps that are taken in response to their actions”.
Last month, the US, Japanese and South Korean navies conducted joint anti-submarine drills in international waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula to improve response capabilities against North Korean submarine threats.
The carrier strike group Reagan and destroyers from South Korea and Japan took part in this joint exercise, according to the South Korean Navy.
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North Korea’s latest launch came hours after a Security Council briefing at United Nations headquarters in New York on Pyongyang’s weapons program.
Speaking to the council, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia and China, without naming them, of enabling North Korea.
North Korea “has enjoyed the general protection of two members of this council. These two members have done everything possible to justify the DPRK’s repeated provocations and block all attempts to upgrade the sanctions regime,” he said .
Referring to Russia and China, Thomas-Greenfield said, “Two permanent members of the Security Council have allowed (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un” to continue these “provocations.”
But China countered that Washington was escalating tensions.
“Recently, the US has strengthened its military alliances in the Asia Pacific region and intensified the risk of military confrontation over the nuclear issue,” said China’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Geng Shuang, during the Security Council meeting.
The US is “poisoning the regional security environment,” he added.
Russia also blamed Washington.
“It is obvious that Pyongyang’s missile launches were a response to short-sighted US confrontational military activities,” said Anna Evstigneeva, Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN.
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Andrei Lankov, a professor at Seoul’s Kookmin University, said military displays by the US and its allies have no effect on North Korea’s weapons program.
“Yes, American strategic assets are deployed, but is there any difference?” Lankov asked.
“It makes no difference where an American aircraft carrier is … They’re just testing their missiles,” he said of the North Koreans.
Experts have warned that recent North Korean tests suggest an even greater escalation of weapons testing could be on the horizon.
“North Korea will continue to conduct missile tests until the current round of modernization is completed,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told CNN earlier this week. proliferation
Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, said North Korean leader Kim has national and regional audiences in mind with the tests.
Kim is telling his own people, “We can deal with any threat that the West, the US and South Korea can present,” Schuster said.
“He’s also telling the South Koreans that if they go too far, destruction can rain down on them. He’s also signaling to Japan, ‘I can contact you and I’m not afraid to do so.’
Schuster also said Kim can be expected to up the ante soon by testing a nuclear weapon.
Lewis agreed, saying a nuclear test could come “at any moment.”
South Korean and US officials have warned since May that North Korea could be preparing for a nuclear test, with satellite images showing activity at its underground nuclear test site.
If North Korea conducts a test, it would be the country’s seventh underground nuclear test and the first in nearly five years.