S. Korea condemns N. Korea's warning on US aircraft carrier entry

U.S. MH-60R Seahawk helicopters are seen on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson at a key naval base in the southeastern city of Busan, March 3. EPA-Yonhap

South Korea's defense ministry denounced Tuesday remarks by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister on the recent arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier in South Korea, calling it an attempt to justify the North's military provocations.

Referring to the arrival of the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson at a key naval base in the southeastern city of Busan on Sunday, Kim Yo-jong said earlier Tuesday that the U.S. move calls for bolstering Pyongyang's nuclear forces.

"North Korea's criticism of the deployment of a U.S. strategic asset to implement the U.S. extended deterrence pledge and combined South Korea-U.S. exercise ahead of the Freedom Shield exercise is merely sophistry to justify its nuclear and missile development and build excuse for provocations," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry stressed that North Korea's nuclear development can "never be accepted," urging the only way for the North to survive is to let go of its obsessions with nuclear weapons.

"Our military is thoroughly preparing against any North Korean provocation based on the robust combined defense posture," it said. "Should the North conduct provocation, using Seoul and Washington's just and defensive military activities as pretext, it will be met with overwhelming retaliation."

South Korea's Navy has described the USS Carl Vinson's arrival as part of efforts to implement an "ironclad" U.S. extended deterrence pledge, which Washington recently reaffirmed, and display the robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture against persistent North Korean threats.

The USS Carl Vinson's arrival, which marked the first such visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier in about eight months, came as the allies are expected to hold their annual springtime Freedom Shield exercise.

Tuesday's remarks by Kim, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, marked the first time she addressed the U.S. since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. (Yonhap)