Three US aircraft carriers operate near the Korean Peninsula

KBS news agency on January 25 quoted information from the US Naval Institute (USNI) saying that last weekend, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) entered the combat area of the US Navy's 7th Fleet.

The aircraft carrier appeared in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Japan.

The US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan participates in a US-South Korea joint military exercise in waters east of South Korea, September 29, 2022. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The US Navy's 7th Fleet combat area currently has three nuclear aircraft carriers on duty - including Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and Theodore Roosevelt.

In 2017, when North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, the US dispatched three aircraft carriers to the Korean Theater Command (KTO) to conduct joint exercises with the South Korean military.

This time, although the three US aircraft carriers have not entered the KTO, the fact that Washington sent another aircraft carrier to the 7th Fleet's operational area despite the tense situation in the Middle East is believed to be a warning against Pyongyang's provocative moves.

On January 25, North Korea announced that it had test-fired a new strategic cruise missile called Pulhwasal-3-31 for the first time, as part of "regular and compulsory" activities to develop powerful weapons systems.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the missile launch, carried out on January 24, did not pose any threat to the safety of North Korea's neighboring countries and had nothing to do with regional security.

KCNA stressed that the test was a process of continuously updating the weapon system and was a “regular and compulsory” activity of the Rocket Department as well as affiliated defense science institutes.

This is North Korea's first known cruise missile launch since September 2023, when it test-fired two long-range strategic cruise missiles carrying dummy nuclear warheads toward the Yellow Sea.

(Source: vietnamplus)

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