North Korea 'ready for war' after US navy strike group is sent to waters near Korean Peninsula

Hatty Collier11 April 2017

North Korea has declared it is ready for war after a US Navy strike group was sent to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang warned of “catastrophic consequences” to Washington’s “outrageous actions” after the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier was diverted from a planned visit to Australia to the western Pacific.

The decision by the US came as tensions increased over ongoing military drills involving American and South Korean forces that North Korea regards as a dress rehearsal for an invasion.

Washington said it was sending the 97,000-ton USS Carl Vinson with an escort of a guided-missile cruiser and two destroyers following another ballistic missile test by North Korea last week.

“We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,” North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.

An F/A-18 fighter prepares to take off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson
AP

“North Korea is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.”

The spokesman cited Washington’s refusal to rule out a pre-emptive strike against North Korean missile sites.

"We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms," the foreign ministry spokesman said, according to KCNA.

Last week’s US strike against a Syrian military base has also been seen as a warning to North Korea, after Donald Trump said Washington was prepared to act alone if China failed to exert more pressure on its neighbour to halt its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

At least six people were reported to have been killed in the US missile strikes early on Friday. US officials said the base was used to launch a chemical weapons attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 civilians, including women and children, on Tuesday. Syria has denied using nerve gas.

A senior US official said Washington has made a preliminary conclusion that Russia knew in advance of Syria's chemical weapons attack last week but has no proof of Moscow's involvement.

Sailors conduct flight operations on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson
REUTERS

The official said that a drone operated by Russians was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment.

Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.

The US official said the presence of the surveillance drone over the hospital could not have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment.

The official did not give precise timing for when the drone was in the area.

He also did not provide details for the military and intelligence information that form the basis of what Washington now believes.

Another US official cautioned that no final American determination has been made that Russia knew ahead of time that chemical weapons would be used.

Neither official was authorised to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

There has been no Syrian retaliation so far for the cruise missile attack, which destroyed or rendered inoperable more than 20 Syria air force planes.

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