North Korea said South Korea and the United States were "sternly looking" at the joint naval maneuver exercise involving the US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Ronald Reagan, in the East Sea, even though it was a "military bluff."
A spokesperson for the North Korean Ministry of Defense said in a question and answer interview with a reporter from the Korean Central News Agency on the 8th, "Currently, the US nuclear aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan strike group is holding a joint naval maneuver exercise against us in the high seas of the East Sea of Korea with South Korean puppet naval ships. ' he asserted.
"This is clearly a military bluff to send a so-called warning about our military's legitimate response to the extremely provocative and threatening joint military exercise between the United States and south Korea," the spokesperson said. We are taking it seriously,” he said.
North Korea's mention of 'the legitimate response of the military' seems to refer to a series of recent ballistic missile launches.
"The fact that the United States re-entered the waters of the Korean peninsula in just a few days has a huge negative impact on the regional situation," he said.
It is analyzed that such a reaction from the North Korean Ministry of Defense indicated that it would respond with armed demonstrations such as ballistic missile launches in response to joint US-ROK exercises in the future.
From the 7th to this day, the ROK and the United States will conduct joint maritime maneuver exercises to improve their combined defense capabilities in the high seas of the East Sea.
The ROK Navy destroyer Munmu the Great and the frigate Donghae were deployed in this exercise, while the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, Aegis cruiser Chancellorville, and Aegis destroyer Benfold and Barry also participated in this exercise.
Previously, the Reagan carrier assault team arrived in Busan on the 23rd of last month and moved to Japanese waters after completing the ROK-U.S. combined maritime exercise on the 26th and 29th, and the South Korea-US-Japan anti-submarine warfare training on the 30th.
However, on the 4th, when North Korea launched an IRBM, a medium-range ballistic missile, and made a provocation that made it fly 4,500km, the next day, on the 5th, abruptly turned around and entered the East Sea again.
The Reagan is scheduled to move southeast of Jeju Island today.