- South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff called the military vessel’s movement “highly unusual.”
The US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan will return to the Sea of Japan after North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday. The aim of the ship’s movement is to show US solidarity with its regional allies, Yonhap reports.
The USS Ronald Reagan had left the Sea of Japan after conducting joint naval exercises with the South Korean destroyer Munmu and a Japanese Asahi-class destroyer. However, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, the ship will return to the Sea of Japan in response to North Korean military activity. At the same time, the South Korean military called the carrier’s move so quickly “very unusual.”
The return of the US ship to the region comes amid escalating tensions around the Korean peninsula, as South Korea and the US responded to the North Korean launch by firing four US-class missiles on Wednesday. ‘land-land’ in the direction of the Sea of Japan.