North Korea warned Sunday that it is prepared to sink President Donald Trump’s “armada” if necessary.
A U.S. Navy carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson is moving into waters off Korea. The strike group, which Trump previously called a “very powerful armada,” is taking part in joint drills with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Western Pacific.
The Vinson and the accompanying destroyers and cruisers are expected to move into position near Korea “within days,” Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday, without going into specifics.
“Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling party, wrote Sunday, expressing the North’s perpetual defiance. Calling the Vinson a “gross animal,” the paper stated a strike on the carrier would be an “example to show our military force.”
The article was published on page three, after a two-page report on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s inspection of a pig farm, Reuters reports.
North Korea will celebrate the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army Tuesday.
Major North Korean holidays are often marked with displays of power. During the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung last weekend, the North held a massive military parade. Numerous weapons of war, including several new intercontinental ballistic missile mock-ups, were presented to the world.
The North wrapped up its holiday weekend with a missile test. While the launch was not successful, the type of missile tested is noteworthy. The U.S. military reports that the missile was a KN-17, a new Scud believed to be an anti-ship ballistic missile. North Korea is suspected of developing a new missile similar to China’s DF-21D, a weapon referred to as a “carrier killer.”
During the recent parade, the North also showed off a number of road-mobile anti-ship cruise missiles.
These specific displays of military strength are noteworthy as the U.S. sends a carrier strike group consisting of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, several destroyers, and cruisers, and an unknown number of submarines in the area.
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