N. Korea vows ‘overwhelming, fresh’ deterrence measures against arrival of U.S. aircraft carrier

North Korea on Monday condemned the U.S. sending of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula, saying that the North is open to taking “overwhelming and fresh” deterrence measures against such a provocative act.

North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il issued a statement slamming the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the southeastern port city of Busan on Saturday.

Kim slammed Washington and Seoul for playing “very dangerous” games in a show of force, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“With the most powerful rhetoric, we sternly condemn provocative acts by fanatics in the U.S. and South Korea, while leaving open the possibility of us taking overwhelming and fresh deterrence measures,” the official was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

The arrival of the aircraft carrier came as the United States, South Korea and Japan will hold their first-ever trilateral multidomain exercise, dubbed Freedom Edge, later this month, in a bid to bolster three-way security cooperation against North Korea’s military threats.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt made a port call for the first time in South Korea. It also marked the first arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier here in seven months.

North Korea has long denounced joint military drills between Washington and Seoul and also the U.S. dispatch of its strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.