U.S. Navy joint exercise. [사진=연합뉴스]
Three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and two amphibious assault ships belonging to the U.S. Navy gathered around the western Pacific Ocean. It is analyzed that the background is the imminent nuclear test and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) provocation by North Korea, and the unauthorized entry of dozens of Chinese People’s Liberation Army military aircraft into the air defense identification zone in southwestern Taiwan on the 23rd.
According to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet Command on the 24th, the US Navy 3rd Fleet Command’s “Carl Vinson” and “Abraham Lincoln” carriers have been deployed in the western Pacific region. The amphibious assault ships ‘America’ and ‘Essex’ were also deployed to conduct joint training with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s helicopter-mounted large frigate (helicopter carrier) ‘Hyo-Hwa’.
The western Pacific region is an area where two battalions are mainly active: the Ronald Reagan of the 7th Fleet, which is stationed in Japan, and the other Nimitz-class carriers, which are performing deep-sea missions.
A military official belonging to the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command said, “It is unusual for the 3rd Fleet Command, which is an operational area in the eastern Pacific region, to be deployed even from the 7th Fleet Command’s jurisdiction over the Western Pacific region, and that three aircraft carriers and two amphibious assault ships are operating. This is the situation,” he said, indicating that the situation in East Asia is getting tense.
In fact, in November 2017, when North Korea fired a series of ICBMs, the U.S. Navy and Reagan temporarily deployed the Nimitz and Theodore Roosevelt carrier squadrons to the waters off the Korean Peninsula and conducted a combined exercise. Also, in June 2020, when North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, the Nimitz and Roosevelts were sent back to the western Pacific to perform missions such as training with the Reagan.
Experts analyzed that one of the factors that expanded the operational radius of the 3rd Fleet was a precautionary warning to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a measure to put pressure on China. Currently, the possibility of North Korea firing an ICBM under the pretext of launching a satellite from the missile launch site (Seohae Satellite Launch Site) in Dongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province is rising in the near future.
The Dongchang-ri launch site is where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised to dismantle then US President Donald Trump at the North Korea-US summit in Singapore in June 2018. North Korea made a move to rebuild the Dongchang-ri launch site shortly after the breakdown of the second North Korea-US summit in 2019 (Hanoi).
On the 23rd, China mobilized a total of 39 military aircraft, including two Y-9 anti-aircraft aircraft, 10 J-10 fighters, 24 J-16 fighters, two Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft and one H-6 bomber. . This is the largest scale since 148 military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone for four days in early October last year.
In particular, a total of 961 military aircraft entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone for 239 days last year. The number of military aircraft that entered without permission more than doubled compared to 380 in 2020.
In the midst of this, on the 21st, China and Russia requested a hold on the US proposal to add five North Koreans belonging to the Academy of Defense to the sanctions list. Under the UN structure, if any one of the permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, Britain, France, China, or Russia) exercises the veto, important decisions such as sanctions cannot be made.
Moon Seong-mook, director of the Center for Unification Strategy at the Korea Institute for National Strategy, said, “The Security Council meeting held in the wake of North Korea’s ballistic missile launch failed to come up with a joint response. The options for the United States are limited.”
- reporter information
- Kim Jeong-rae
- kjl@ajunews.com
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