South Korea vows 'overwhelming' retaliation after North's threats following USS Carl Vinson arrival

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South Korea vows 'overwhelming' retaliation after North's threats following USS Carl Vinson arrival

Published: 04 Mar. 2025, 11:12 Updated: 04 Mar. 2025, 18:17

SEO JI-EUN
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Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaks in a televised address on North Korea's Korean Central Television on Aug. 11, 2022. [YONHAP]

South Korea’s Defense Ministry warned Tuesday that any provocation by North Korea would be met with “overwhelming” retaliation in response to the North's bellicose rhetoric over the arrival of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in Busan.

Earlier in the day, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, condemned the deployment of the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and accused Washington of escalating regional tensions.

“Kim Yo-jong’s criticism of the deployment of U.S. strategic assets to provide extended deterrence ahead of the upcoming Freedom Shield (FS) joint military exercise is nothing more than sophistry intended to justify the development of nuclear weapons and missiles, and to create a pretext for provocations,” the ministry said in a statement released shortly afterwards. “North Korea’s nuclear weapons can never be tolerated.”

The ministry reaffirmed that South Korea and the United States remain fully prepared to counter any threats.

“Our military, based on a strong joint defense posture, is thoroughly prepared for any provocation by the North. Should North Korea use our legitimate and defensive military activities as an excuse for aggression, we will respond with overwhelming retaliation,” it said.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry also condemned Kim's statement, dismissing her claims as “a typical case of absurd and baseless accusations.”

“North Korea is using the South Korea-U.S. [joint military drills], which are designed to maintain peace, as an excuse to threaten strong countermeasures,” a senior Unification Ministry official said in a closed-door briefing on Tuesday.

Kim's latest statement marks her first direct message to Washington since Donald Trump's return to the White House.

The USS Carl Vinson arrives at a key naval base in the southeastern city of Busan on March 2. [YONHAP]

Previously, North Korea had used lower-ranking officials to issue statements toward the United States.

“As soon as its new administration appeared this year, the U.S. has stepped up the political and military provocations against the DPRK, 'carrying forward' the former administration's hostile policy,” Kim said in an English-language statement published through state media earlier in the day.

DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Listing Washington's deployment of strategic assets in the region and the joint military drills held this year, Kim specifically criticized the strengthening of military cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan.

“The U.S. vicious moves for confrontation with the DPRK have been intensified in March with the appearance of Carl Vinson in the Korean peninsula,” she said. “Such moves will reach the climax with the U.S.-Japan-ROK naval drill and the Freedom Shield joint military exercises, to be staged this month with Carl Vinson involved, as a momentum.”

She further justified North Korea’s nuclear development, claiming, “The present reality further highlights the justness, validity and necessity of the DPRK's line on bolstering up its nuclear forces.”

Kim then warned of potential North Korean countermeasures.

“If the U.S. continues to renew its records in the anti-DPRK military demonstration, the DPRK will be naturally compelled to renew its records in the exercise of strategic deterrence,” she said. “The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level.”

Experts believe Kim's mention of “increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level” could signal a major North Korean military provocation.

“This statement serves as Pyongyang’s first declaration of a strategic hardline stance against the U.S. since Trump’s return to office,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said.

“It suggests that North Korea may carry out high-intensity military actions, including launching a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the U.S. mainland, a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test, or even a nuclear test,” Lim said.

The latest arrival of the USS Carl Vinson marked the first such visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier to South Korea since U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House in January. The nuclear-powered vessel last visited South Korea in November 2023.

BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]