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Minnie Chan

A US strike group headed by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was still thousands of kilometres from the Korean peninsula only days ago, easing concerns that a­military strike might be imminent against North Korea.
An image from the US military dated last Saturday showed the carrier on a “scheduled deployment” in the Sunda Strait off ­Indonesia, which is 5,600km from the Korean peninsula.

But tensions surrounding North Korea remained, with its vice-foreign minister, Han Song-ryol, saying that Pyongyang would conduct missile tests on a weekly basis.
“If the US is reckless enough to use military means it would mean, from that very day, an all-out war,” he told the BBC.
US Vice-President Mike Pence said in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Washington and Tokyo had agreed to press China to use its “extraordinary levers” to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme.
North Korea tested a ballistic missile on Sunday. Even though the missile exploded soon after its launch, the act was seen as a ­defiant move.
North Korea claims ‘nuclear war could break out at any time’ after Pence says US ‘strategic patience’ has expired
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that the crisis should be resolved by talks. US officials have said that a military strike was an option.
The US and South Korea on Monday began a military exercise designed to “test aerial combat capability”. Some 1,000 US personnel had teamed up with the South Korean Air Force to ensure they were ready to combat “the North’s provocations”, the US Pacific Command said yesterday.
US Navy officials in Pearl Harbour and Washington declined to comment on the Carl Vinson’s movements, other than to confirm the passage last Saturday through the Sunda Strait, the Navy Times ­reported.
Why Kim Jong-un’s warnings of nuclear war will fail to impress US and South Korea
Military analysts said the Pentagon’s lack of clarity on the carrier deployment was adding to tensions on the Korean peninsula.
“It’s a costless tactic that can scare North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,” Zhou Chenming, from the Knowfar Institute for Strategic and Defence Studies, said.
Beijing-based naval analyst Li Jie said “such a tactic is very much Trump’s style”.
“But I don’t think it’s a good way to handle the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula because Kim will not compromise under threats. He wants to get some promises from the US, China and Russia to secure his regime.”
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said he believed Beijing knew where the Carl Vinson was, but had kept quiet about it.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press



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North Korea

What military strike? US war fleet still thousands of kilometres from North Korea

Strike 
                  group led by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was last seen off Indonesia, reducing fears of an imminent US attack

The U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). PHOTO : HANDOUT / FACEBOOK

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson transits the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian Islands of Java and Sumatra on April 15, 2017 after the US Navy announced it had sent a carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula in a show of force against North Korea's "reckless" nuclear weapons programme. Photo: AFP

North Korea claims ‘nuclear war could break out at any time’ after Pence says US ‘strategic patience’ has expired

US Vice-President Mike Pence shakes hands with acting South Korean President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Reuters

A North Korean soldier takes photographs as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (not pictured) arrives at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

In this Saturday, April 15, 2017, file photo, a submarine missile is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. North Korea's big day, the anniversary of the birth of its founding leader, Kim Il Sung, came and went with no underground nuclear test by the North, and no pre-emptive strikes off the deck of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier sent to waters off the Korean Peninsula by President Donald Trump. Just hours before Vice President Mike Pence began his visit to Seoul on Sunday, Pyongyang fired off a ballistic missile — but it appears to have exploded seconds after it got off the ground. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

This April 15, 2017 picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 16, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un waving to people after the military parade in Pyongyang marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. /

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence looks at North Korea from Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), near the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, South Korea, Monday, April 17, 2017. Pence is warning that the North Korean people and military "should not mistake the resolve" of the U.S. to stand with its allies. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

This April 15, 2017 picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 16, 2017 shows Korean People's howitzers being displayed through Kim Il-Sung square during a military parade in Pyongyang marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. /

US Vice President Mike Pence (C) visits the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border between North and South Korea on April 17, 2017. Pence arrived at the gateway to the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas, in a show of US resolve a day after North Korea failed in its attempt to test another missile. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrives at the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

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Strike group led by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was last seen off Indonesia, reducing fears of an imminent US attack


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