The joint military exercise between the US and South Korea is chiefly designed as a warning to China, says an American analyst.
The US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis arrived in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan on Sunday, to take part in the Key Resolve joint war games amid heightened tensions and threats by North Korea to wipe out its enemies.
More than 300,000 South Korean and 17,000 American troops are attending the war games in a show of military power.
Pyongyang condemned the drills, calling them “nuclear war moves” taken as preparations for an invasion.
The North’s military said it was prepared to respond “with an ultra-precision blitzkrieg strike of the Korean style.”
Juaquin Flores, director of the Center for Syncretic Studies, told Press TV on Sunday that the war games, though aimed at North Korea, also send a message to China.
“The US is concerned about the rise of China’s ability to project power and…