Kim Jong Un’s sister threatens response after US aircraft carrier deployed in South Korea
4 March 2025, 18:24 | Updated: 5 March 2025, 17:02
Kim Jong Un’s sister has warned that North Korea would take retaliationary action after the US stepped up its ‘provocations’ by deploying an aircraft carrier to South Korea.
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Kim Yo Jong, a powerful official in her brother’s government, accused the US of showing "its most hostile and confrontational will" to North Korea.
It comes after a US aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea in a show of force, days after North Korea test-launched cruise missiles to demonstrate its counter-attack capabilities.
The deployment of the carrier has infuriated North Korea, which views temporary deployments of such powerful US military assets as major security threats.
Kim Yo Jong’s threat is likely to involve further weapons testing in the region in response to an increased US military presence, and joint US-South Korean military drills this year.
She said her country would carry out a ‘threatening’ response to the aircraft carrier’s arrival, which she called the "confrontation hysteria of the US and its stooges".
"The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level to cope with the fact that the deployment of US strategic assets in the Korean Peninsula has become a vicious habit and adversely affects the security of the DPRK," she said.
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Experts take the threat as a suggestion that North Korea will test-launch powerful missiles designed to reach the US mainland or American military bases in the region.
The arrival of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group at the South Korean port of Busan is meant to display a solid US-South Korean military alliance in the face of persistent North Korean threats, and boost interoperability of the allies' combined assets, the South Korean navy said in a statement.
It said it is the first US aircraft carrier to travel to South Korea since June.
North Korea has responded to some of the past deployments of US aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and nuclear-powered submarines with missile tests.
Since his inauguration in January, US President Donald Trump has said he will reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again to revive diplomacy.
North Korea has not directly responded to Mr Trump's overture but alleged US-led hostilities against North Korea have intensified since his inauguration.
North Korea said on Friday it test-fired strategic cruise missiles earlier last week to inform its enemies of its counter-attack capability and the readiness of its nuclear operations.
After watching the launches, the North's fourth missile testing event this year, Kim Jong-Un ordered his military to be fully ready to use its nuclear weapons.
Experts say Kim could consider resuming diplomacy with Trump when he thinks he cannot maintain his country's current booming cooperation with Russia, but ias now too focused on Russia to engage.
Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 during Trump's first term to discuss the future of North Korea's nuclear programme. Their high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed due to wrangling over US-led economic sanctions on North Korea.
