"As soon as its new administration appeared this year, the U.S. has stepped up the political and military provocations against [the North]," North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"Hostile policy toward [Pyongyang] pursued by the U.S. at present is offering sufficient justification for the [North] to indefinitely bolster..... its nuclear war deterrent," she warned, adding that the move would only accelerate Pyongyang's development to bolster its nuclear arsenal.
The statement came a day after the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, arrived at a naval base in the southern port city, in a show of force against North Korean nuclear threats, as part of commitment of Washington's extended deterrence and military readiness.
The latest visit came about eight months after the USS Theodore Roosevelt docked in Busan for joint military exercises in June last year and marks the first such visit since President Donald Trump began his non-consecutive second term in late January.
The USS Carl Vinson last visited Busan in November 2023.
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