N. KOREA ‘READY TO HIT U.S. CARRIER’
The isolated country has also threatened to lay waste to S. Korea and Japan
NORTH Korea said yesterday it was ready to sink a United States aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might, as two Japanese navy ships joined a US carrier group for exercises in the western Pacific.
US President Donald Trump ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail to waters off the Korean peninsula in response to rising tension over the North’s nuclear and missile tests, and its threats to attack the US and its Asian allies.
The US had not specified where the carrier strike group was as it approached the area.
US Vice-President Mike Pence said on Saturday it would arrive “within days”, but gave no other details.
North Korea remained defiant. “Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a commentary.
The paper likened the aircraft carrier to a “gross animal” and said a strike on it would be “an actual example to show our military’s force”. The commentary was carried on page three of the newspaper, after a two-page feature about leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a pig farm.
North Korea will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army on Tuesday.
North Korea said its nuclear programme was for self-defence and has warned the US of a nuclear attack in response to any aggression.
It had also threatened to lay waste to South Korea and Japan.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday North Korea’s recent statements were provocative, but had proven to be hollow in the past and should not be trusted.
“We’ve all come to hear their words repeatedly, their word has not proven honest,” Mattis told a news conference in Tel Aviv, before the latest threat to the aircraft carrier.
Some Japanese ruling party lawmakers urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to acquire strike weapons that could hit North Korean missile forces before any imminent attack.
Japan’s navy, which is mostly a destroyer fleet, is the second largest in Asia after China’s.
The two Japanese warships, Samidare and Ashigara, left western Japan on Friday to join Carl Vinson and will “practise a variety of tactics” with the US strike group, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.
The Japanese force did not specify where the exercises were taking place, but by yesterday the destroyers could have reached an area 2,500km south of Japan, which would be waters east of the Philippines.
From there, it could take three days to reach waters off the Korean peninsula. Japan’s ships would accompany Carl Vinson north at least into the East China Sea, a source with knowledge of the plan said.
US and South Korean officials have been saying for weeks that the North could soon stage another nuclear test, something the US, China and others have warned against.
North Korea detained a US citizen on Friday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, bringing the total number of Americans held by the country to three.
The man, a Korean-American in his 50s, identified only by his surname Kim, had been in North Korea for a month to discuss relief activities, Yonhap said yesterday.
He was arrested at the Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country.
North Korea, which had been criticised for its human rights record, had in the past used detained Americans to extract high-profile visits from the US, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations. Agencies