By By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Seoul, Mar 4: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened Tuesday to launch high-profile provocations in response to the arrival of a US aircraft carrier in South Korea and other US military activities, which she slammed as “confrontation hysteria of the US and its stooges”.
The warning by Kim Yo Jong implies North Korea will likely ramp up weapons testing activities and maintain its confrontational posture against the US, though President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim Jong Un to revive diplomacy.
In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong accused the US of clearly showing “its most hostile and confrontational will” to North Korea with the deployments of the USS Carl Vinson and other powerful US military assets and US-South Korean military drills this year.
“The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level to cope with the fact that the deployment of US strategic assets in the Korean Peninsula has become a vicious habit and adversely affects the security of the DPRK,” she said, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Her statement suggests North Korea may test-launch intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to strike the mainland US or other powerful missiles that would target US military bases in the region, observers say.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry warned later it’s ready to repel any provocations by North Korea based on a solid military alliance with the US. A ministry statement called Kim Yo Jong’s statement “sophistry” meant to justify its nuclear development and future provocations.
On Sunday, the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group arrived in South Korea, the latest temporary deployment of a US strategic asset aimed at displaying the firmness of the US-South Korean military alliance in the face of North Korean threats and boosting interoperability of the allies’ combined assets. The US carrier’s arrival came four days after North Korea conducted cruise missiles, its fourth missile test event this year.
North Korea views arrivals of such powerful US military assets in South Korea as major security threats and often responds with missile tests.
North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture but alleged US-led hostilities against North Korea have intensified since the start of Trump’s second term in January.
Experts say Kim Jong Un won’t likely embrace Trump’s outreach anytime soon as he is now focusing on his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with supply of weapons and troops. They say Kim could consider returning to diplomacy with Trump when he thinks he cannot maintain his country’s current booming cooperation with Russia
Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 during Trump’s first term to discuss the future of North Korea’s nuclear programme. Their high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed due to wrangling over US-led economic sanctions on North Korea. (AP)
