US warship arrives in South Korea for joint military drills
The arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt coincides with heightened regional tensions in the region after North Korea and Russia signed a new partnership agreement.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt anchored at naval port in city of Busan, first such US vessel to visit country in 7 months, ahead of military exercise. / Photo: Reuters Archive
A nuclear-powered United States aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, has arrived in South Korea's port city of Busan for joint military exercises this month with the host nation and Japan, South Korea's navy said.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt entered the naval base in Busan, 320 kilometres (198.83 miles) southeast of the capital Seoul, early on Saturday, joined by the Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Halsey and the USS Daniel Inouye, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported, citing the South Korean Navy.
It marked the first arrival of a US aircraft carrier in South Korea in seven months, since the November visit of the USS Carl Vinson.
Saturday's arrival came as the three countries are expected to hold their first-ever trilateral multi-domain exercise, called Freedom Edge, later this month amid joint efforts to bolster security cooperation against North Korean threats.
The three allies decided to launch the exercise during three-way talks held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference earlier this month in Singapore.
The leaders of the three nations have also agreed at a Camp David summit in August 2023 to hold annual military training drills as they condemned China's "dangerous and aggressive behaviour" in the disputed waterway of the South China Sea.
Pledge for defence
On Wednesday, North Korea and Russia inked a new partnership agreement after a summit in Pyongyang between the two countries' leaders, vowing to provide each other military assistance "without delay" if either is attacked by a third country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea this week for the first time in 24 years and signed a deal with leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defence pledge.
It was one of Russia's most significant moves in Asia for years, which Kim described as amounting to an alliance.
The visit comes seven months after a South Korea trip by another US aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, in a show of extended deterrence against the North's nuclear and missile programmes.
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