hankyoreh

from www.gonavy.jp

It turns out that the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), the US aircraft carrier that had supposedly changed course for the Korean Peninsula to prevent a nuclear test through a show of force against North Korea, was actually carrying out joint exercises with Australia in the Indian Ocean, in the complete opposite direction. Considering that the aircraft carrier’s change of course coincided with the US airstrike on Syria to raise the specter of military action against North Korea and to jack up tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the news that this change of course was a lie seems likely to have significant repercussions.

US newspapers, including the New York Times, analyzed photos of exercises released by the US Navy to conclude that the USS Carl Vinson had been passing through the Sunda Strait, between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, on Apr. 15, this past weekend.

While initial reports claimed that the USS Carl Vinson had headed north after it departed from Singapore on Apr. 8, the latest reports show that it had actually moved in the opposite direction, and that it was located in the Indian Ocean, 3,000 miles away from the Korean Peninsula, on Apr. 15. The aircraft carrier participated in the joint exercises with the Australian navy scheduled to be held in the Indian Ocean as planned. While public remarks by the US government had implied that the joint exercises with Australia had been abruptly canceled because of the critical situation on the Korean Peninsula, this turned out to be a lie.

USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier

The locations of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier

US Defense Department spokesperson Dana White said that the USS Carl Vinson is now headed north toward the Western Pacific. After confirming to the AFP wire service that the USS Carl Vinson was located in waters northwest of Australia on Apr. 18, an official in the Pentagon said that the carrier was planning to sail north toward the East Sea within the next 24 hours. The USS Carl Vinson also offered a belated explanation that its deployment had been delayed until Apr. 30 so that it could remain stationed in waters near the Korean Peninsula. “The USS Carl Vinson is expected to arrive in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula toward the end of April,” said a South Korean government official.

On Apr. 8, the spokesperson for the US Pacific Command said that the USS Carl Vinson’s course change was connected with “the number one threat in the region,” which he identified as “North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible, and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.” These remarks presented the course change as a show of force by the US military, motivated by the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test or a long-range ballistic missile launch leading up to the holiday of the Day of the Sun on Apr. 15, the birthday of North Korean founding leader Kim Il-sung.

With US President Donald Trump and senior officials in the areas of diplomacy and security making public remarks that took the carrier’s redeployment for granted, the Korean Peninsula was plunged into considerable confusion for about 10 days because of the USS Carl Vinson crisis, as the show of force hinted at the possibility of the US taking unilateral military action against North Korea.

When an official from South Korea‘s Ministry of Defense was asked by the Hankyoreh if the Ministry had been aware that the USS Carl Vinson was engaging in joint military exercises with Australia, the official said that “this was shared as part of the alliance,” basically acknowledging that Seoul had known of these developments. The Ministry will likely find it hard to avoid criticism that it did nothing despite its awareness that a crisis was brewing on the Korean Peninsula and that there was a growing likelihood of an accidental clash.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]