US naval exercises with Japan, ongoing near the Korean peninsula in the Yellow Sea, are meant to provoke and escalate tension in the region, says anti-war activist Brian Becker.

“The countries in that part of the world are very used to imperial gunboat diplomacy,” says Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER coalition. “And they understand it as such.”

Becker further argues that the US was “playing with fire” by launching the exercises.

“As any objective observer would note, when you bring all of this military hardware right to the Korean peninsula – the most militarized section on the planet – the possibility of a catastrophic war then does exist.”

Sara Flounders from the International Action Center called the US initiatives to hold war games in the region an “attack on the sovereignty of both North Korea and China.”

“The US government may really be orchestrating a confrontation,” Flounders said.

On Monday, South Korea also launched a live-fire exercise in the region.

The North had accused the South of waging a war, threatening "catastrophic consequences" if the drill went ahead.