US aircraft carrier arrives in South Korea for military drills

[June 22, 2024]  SEOUL (Reuters) -A nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, arrived in South Korea's port city of Busan on Saturday for joint military exercises this month with the host nation and Japan, South Korea's navy said.  

The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, June 22, 2024. Song Kyung-Seok/Pool via REUTERS

The leaders of the three nations agreed at a Camp David summit in August 2023 to hold annual military training drills as they condemned China's "dangerous and aggressive behavior" in the disputed waterway of the South China Sea.

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 defense 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 U.S. aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, in a show of extended deterrence against the North's nuclear and missile programs.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Stephen Coates)

[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.