US carrier diverts amid Korean fears

SOUTH KOREA: United States aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson has been diverted to the Western Pacific instead of sailing from Singapore to Australia, the navy said, amid escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.

The strike group includes the Carl Vinson, several guidedmissile destroyers and a guidedmissile cruiser, according to the Navy’s website. It did not specify a destination.

‘‘US Pacific Command ordered the Carl Vinson strike group north as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the Western Pacific,’’ Pacific Command spokesman Dave Benham said yesterday.

‘‘Third Fleet ships operate forward with a purpose: to safeguard US interests in the Western Pacific,’’ he said.

‘‘The No 1 threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible, and destabilising programme of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,’’ Benham said.

It was reported the carrier will move near the Korean peninsula. Pacific Command declined to provide the precise location the car- rier strike force will be deployed.

US President Donald Trump sent a message to North Korea and its ally China during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida that he was willing to take action over Kim Jong Un’s nuclear programme, said Lee Ho Ryung, chief of North Korean studies at the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses.

‘‘The US is proving itself that it can really take action if you play with chemical weapons like Syria,’’ Lee said. Still, ‘‘the Carl Vinson’s move toward the Korean peninsula is probably a decision they made some time ago as part of the Foal Eagle joint military drills. In that sense, it’s not a special move.’’

The strike group has participated in numerous exercises with Japan and South Korea and conducted routine patrol operations in the South China Sea since its January 5 deployment from San Diego, the navy said.

North Korea conducted another ballistic missile test on April 5, shortly before Xi and Trump met.

Kim has said previously his regime is close to developing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the continental US. . – Bloomberg News

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