Navy carrier en route to Korea

SEOUL — A U.S. Navy strike group was ordered toward the Korean Peninsula late Saturday “as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the western Pacific,” the spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command said.

Although the U.S. Navy did not specify a destination for the Carl Vinson strike group other than north of Singapore in the western Pacific Ocean, U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Dave Benham noted Sunday that “the No. 1 threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.”

The strike group, which includes the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, at least two guided-missile destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser, was originally bound for Australia after departing Singapore on Saturday.

Analysts noted the timing of the trip — North Korea is expected to hold a military parade on April 15 to celebrate the 105th birthday of its founding president, Kim Il Sung, and to mark the 85th anniversary of the creation of the Korean People’s Army on April 25 with similar fanfare.

Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, was asked about the decision to send the carrier group toward North Korea on Fox News Sunday.

“Well, it’s prudent to do it, isn’t it?” he replied. “I mean, North Korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behavior. This is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear-capable regime. … So the president has asked us to be prepared to give him a full range of options to remove that threat to the American people and our allies and partners in that region.”

The Vinson group last month participated in joint drills with the South Korean military to prepare for a sudden change on the peninsula — including the collapse of the North Korean regime or an invasion.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday the launch of U.S. missiles against Syria last week carries a message for any nation operating outside of international norms.

“If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken,” Tillerson told ABC’s This Week in response to a question about what message North Korea should take from the strike on Syria.

MISSILES CONCERN U.S.

Over the weekend, North Korea said it was not afraid of U.S. military strikes, saying it could defend itself with its “tremendous military muscle with a nuclear force.”

North Korea has been testing medium-range missiles over recent months, and the regime of Kim Jong Un in January said North Korea had “entered the final stage of preparation for a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile” capable of hitting the mainland United States. In response, President Donald Trump tweeted: “It won’t happen!”

A North Korean Foreign Ministry official on Sunday called the U.S. action in Syria “absolutely unpardonable as it was an undisguised act of aggression against a sovereign state.”

“We will bolster up in every way our capability for self-defense to cope with the

U.S.’ evermore reckless moves for a war and defend ourselves with our own force,” the official said. The comments were carried by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. The report did not name the official, which is common in the news agency’s reports.

In appearances on the Sunday news shows, Tillerson said advances in North Korea’s ballistic missile program concerned the U.S. the most. Asked on ABC if development of an intercontinental missile was a “red line” for Trump, Tillerson said: “If we judge that they have perfected that type of delivery system, then that becomes a very serious stage of their further development.”

“I think there’s a shared view and no disagreement as to how dangerous the situation has become,” Tillerson said on CBS’ Face the Nation. “And I think even China is beginning to recognize that this presents a threat … to China’s interests as well.”

Tillerson said during a visit to Seoul last month that “all options are on the table,” including military options. Previous American administrations have ruled out strikes on North Korean nuclear sites or missile targets because of the potential for catastrophic damage in South Korea.

The North has conventional artillery massed on its side of the demilitarized zone that bisects the Korean Peninsula, giving it the capacity to inflict serious damage on greater Seoul, a metropolitan area of 20 million people that lies just 30 miles south of the demilitarized zone.

During a 20-minute phone call Saturday, Trump told South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-Ahn, that he had “in-depth discussions about North Korea’s serious nuclear problems and how to respond to them” during his summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, according to the South Korean leader’s office.

Trump has said China, with its ties to North Korea, should deal with its neighbor, but that the U.S. was prepared to act on its own if necessary.

Lee Ho-ryung, chief of North Korean studies at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said Trump’s missile strike in Syria was also a signal to North Korea.

“The U.S. is proving itself that it can really take action if you play with chemical weapons like Syria,” Lee said.