Where will the situation on the Dancing Knife Peninsula in the East China Sea of the United States, South Korea, Japan go?

According to a report by North Korean Central News Agency on January 19th, North Korea conducted underwater nuclear weapon system tests in response to the recent joint maritime exercises held by the United States, Japan, and South Korea. During such a sensitive period, North Korea's conduct of such experiments has once again attracted widespread attention from the international community.

On the previous 17th, the United States, South Korea, and Japan held a joint naval exercise near Jeju Island in South Korea, involving a US aircraft carrier. This is the latest move by the three countries to demonstrate their strength to North Korea, which possesses nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, senior diplomats from the three countries will meet in Seoul to discuss the increasingly serious stalemate with Pyongyang.

It is reported that the three-day trilateral naval exercise ended on the 17th, with a total of 9 warships participating. The three participating forces are: the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, the USS Princeton cruiser (CG-59), the USS Kidd (DDG-100), and the USS Strett (DDG-104) destroyers; Japan's DDH-181 helicopter carrier and DDG-179 destroyer; The South Korean destroyers DDG-991 and DDH-978 were the Sejong Daiwang destroyers.

The main content of this exercise includes maritime interception and anti submarine operations, maritime communication and intelligence sharing among all parties, as well as mutual operation of battleship decks. The location of the exercise is in the sea area approximately 250 kilometers south of South Korea and 270 kilometers west of Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States stated that this exercise "aims to strengthen the joint deterrence and response capabilities of the three countries against North Korea's nuclear weapons, missiles, and underwater threats, and to train in curbing the illegal maritime transportation of weapons of mass destruction.".

At the beginning of the new year, the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula rapidly escalated, and the competition among various forces on the peninsula began.

The week-long New Year's military exercise between South Korea and the United States, which ended on the 4th, stirred up sensitive nerves in the situation on the peninsula. This comprehensive sea, land, and air exercise was held in Baochuan City, Gyeonggi Province, near the military boundary between North and South Korea. The South Korean and American armies deployed 110 weapons and equipment, including main battle tanks and armored vehicles. At the same time, the South Korean Navy dispatched multiple destroyers, frigates, and missile boats to carry out naval gun shooting and maritime maneuvering exercises in the waters surrounding the peninsula.

Regarding this military exercise, the Korean Central News Agency issued a stern criticism in an article on the 4th, stating that the Yoon Seok yeol government has been continuously launching military provocations in 2023, making provocative decisions at the beginning of 2024, and is likely to launch various war conspiracies on an unprecedented scale. Therefore, this year is "the most likely year for conflict between South and North Korea.". North Korea's "Labor News" directly pointed out that South Korea "has elevated the atmosphere of war.".

In response, North Korea not only conducted large-scale shelling exercises near the border, but also publicly declared South Korea an enemy country. This series of actions seems to indicate that the path of peaceful reunification has become a failure. The series of actions taken by North and South Korea, as well as the United States, South Korea, and Japan, have made the situation on the Korean Peninsula more complicated and have caused widespread concern in the international community.

On the 14th, North Korea launched a medium to long-range ballistic missile into the eastern waters of the peninsula in the Pyongyang area. This is North Korea's first test launch of a medium to long range solid fuel ballistic missile this year. According to official North Korean media, this is a new type of solid fuel medium range missile equipped with hypersonic warheads. This move has once again attracted widespread attention from the outside world, further exacerbating the tense situation on the peninsula.

Subsequently, North Korean Foreign Minister Choi Sang hee visited Russia from January 15th to 17th at the invitation of the Russian side to discuss deepening North Korean Russian relations with Lavrov. This can not help but remind the outside world that after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and other western countries designated North Korea as providing weapons to Russia to support Russia's war against Ukraine, but both North Korea and Russia denied it.

In fact, accusations of so-called military aid are highly likely to become another trigger for the escalation of the situation on the peninsula.

The Korean Peninsula has always been a focus of international politics and geostrategy, and recent threat signals and tensions have once again attracted global attention, to some extent, its influence even surpasses the ongoing Russia Ukraine war and the Palestinian Israeli conflict. The resolution of the Korean Peninsula issue requires the joint efforts of the international community to seek a peaceful solution. All relevant parties should closely monitor to prevent military misjudgment and accidental firing.