Donald Trump sends two more aircraft carriers including USS Ronald Reagan towards North Korea to face down tubby tyrant Kim Jong-un
The ships will be sent to the Sea of Japan next week after Trump warned warned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to behave
PRESIDENT Trump will send two more aircraft carriers to the Korean Peninsula.
The escalation of tensions comes amid claims the US hacked Kim Jong-un’s latest missile launch and caused it to go wrong.
The commander-in-chief is said to be bolstering American deployment in the region by sending the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz to the Sea of Japan next week.
He has already dispatched the USS Carl Vinson, powered by nuclear reactors, carrying almost 100 aircraft and accompanied by destroyers, a cruiser, and a submarine to the area.
His rocket exploded just five seconds after launching from near the port city of Sinpo – in defiance of threats from Trump.
When asked directly about claims American hackers had “sabotaged” the North Korean missile launch, Trump said yesterday: “I don’t want to comment on it.”
He added: “I don’t want to telegraph what I’m doing or what I’m thinking. I hope things work out well. I hope there’s going to be peace.
USS RONALD REAGAN
- Length: 1,092ft
- Aircraft: 90 fixed wing and helicopters
- Speed: 30+ knots
- Weight: 103,000 tons
- Crew: 5,680
- Home port: Yokosuka, Japan
- Commissioned: July 2003
“But you know, they’ve been talking with this gentleman for a long time - everybody’s been outplayed. They’ve all been outplayed by this gentleman and we’ll see what happens.”
Asked what would happen if North Korea carried out another missile test, Trump cryptically replied: “We’ll find out.”
North Korea has promised weekly missile tests in the face of what it deems hostility from South Korea and the US.
On Monday, Trump warned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had “gotta behave”.
And Vice President Mike Pence yesterday assured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that America was ready to work closely with its Asian allies to achieve denuclearisation.
He said: “We appreciate the challenging times in which the people of Japan live with increasing provocations from across the Sea of Japan.
USS NIMITZ
- Length: 1,092ft
- Aircraft: 90 fixed wing and helicopters
- Speed: 31.5 knots
- Weight: 101,600 tons
- Crew: 5,680
- Home port: Kitsap, Washington
- Commissioned: May 1975
“While all options are on the table, President Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region, and with China.
“We seek peace always as a country, as does Japan, but as you know and the United States knows, peace comes through strength and we will stand strongly with Japan and strongly with our allies for a peace and security in this region.
“It is our belief by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure we have a chance of achieving a freeze on the Korean Peninsula.
“We will not rest and will not relent until we obtain the objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”
Abe – who has already met Trump in Washington - added: “It goes without saying that it is a matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well peaceable settlements of the issue.
“But at the same time, dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless and it is necessary for us to exercise pressure North Korea so that it comes forward and engages in this serious dialogue.”
Pence on Monday had travelled to the tense zone dividing the Koreas and warned the North that after years of testing nukes was trying US patience.
USS CARL VINSON
- Length: 1,092ft
- Aircraft: 90 fixed wing and helicopters
- Speed: 30+ knots
- Weight: 102,900 tons
- Crew: 6,062
- Home port: San Diego, California
- Commissioned: March 13, 1982