US aircraft carrier arrives in Sth Korea for joint drills

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrived in the South Korean port of Busan yesterday ahead of the two countries’ joint military exercise that aims to show their strength against growing North Korean threats. The joint drills will be the first involving a US aircraft carrier in the region since 2017. The allies this year have revived their large-scale military drills that were downsized or shelved in previous years to support diplomacy with Pyongyang or because of Covid-19. The North Korean threat is also expected to be a key agenda when US VicePresident Kamala Harris visits South Korea next week after attending the state funeral in Tokyo of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.