Philippine Daily Inquirer

N. Korea says it will sink US warships in one blow

American aircraft carrier, destroyers holding war drills with Japan

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SEOUL— North Korea said on Sunday it was ready to sink a US 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 United States and its Asian allies. The United States has not specified where the carrier strike group is as it approaches 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,” the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a commentary. ‘Gross animal’ 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 dictator 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. It has in the past marked important anniversar­ies with tests of its weapons. North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States. It has also carried out a series of ballistic missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions. North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps the most serious security challenge confrontin­g Trump. Trump had vowed to prevent the North from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile and had said all options were on the table, including a military strike. Nuclear attack North Korea said its nuclear program was for self-defense and has warned the United States of a nuclear attack in response to any aggression. It has 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 reflectsNo­rthwith Japan’s aircraft nuclear Korea growingsho­w carrier.or could chemicalof concernnav­al strike force war- that it heads. lawmakersS­ome Japanesear­e urging ruling Prime party 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. Two Japanese warships, the Samidare and Ashigara, left western Japan on Friday to join the Carl Vinson.

 ?? —AFP ?? The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (left) is the newtarget of North Korea, which boasts of missiles like the one in the above photo presented during a military parade in Pyongyang. Another ship (right), guided missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, is...
—AFP The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (left) is the newtarget of North Korea, which boasts of missiles like the one in the above photo presented during a military parade in Pyongyang. Another ship (right), guided missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, is...

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