A canadian submarine in the western Pacific, a first in 50 years

File Photo, Royal Canadian Navy

AFP

Thursday, February 8, 2018 12:30

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Thursday, February 8, 2018 12:30

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A canadian submarine patrol in the western Pacific for the first time in nearly 50 years, in a time of heightened tensions with North Korea, said on Thursday the canadian Defence.

The United States and their allies had called in January, at a meeting in Vancouver on the nuclear threat of north korea, to reinforce controls at sea to prevent the Pyongyang regime to circumvent the sanctions by sourcing illegally.

The deployment of the submarine HMCS Chicoutimi “solidifies the commitment of Canada with respect to the maintenance of peace and security in the region,” said AFP a spokesman of the canadian armed Forces, captain Rick Donnelly.

The Chicoutimi is “on a mission to strengthen the monitoring of North Korea”, “tracking suspicious vessels” and has made stops in Guam and Japan, according to a report on board of the public television canada CBC.

“The crew conducted patrols without a specific purpose, as well as exercises with foreign countries, but has not participated in (the application, ED) sanctions against North Korea,” said the captain Donnelly.

“The submarine is not involved in the security of the Olympic games” of the winter that take place in Pyeongchang, in South Korea, he added.

The current deployment has been planned “there is more than one year” and “is not bound to any folder present geopolitical Asia-Pacific,” added the canadian Defence, noting, however, that it is “the first time that a submarine of the royal canadian navy, travelled in Asia Pacific for almost 50 years”.

Washington and its allies, including Canada, had urged in January to “a strengthening of the maritime interdiction in order to thwart the transfer of ship-to-ship” to escape the controls.

“There must be new consequences for the regime” north Korean “to each new aggression”, had then said american secretary of State Rex Tillerson