“Our revolutionary forces are combat ready to sink a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” written in bold type across a newspaper as North Korea threatens the US and Japanese carriers holding drills in the Asia pacific.
The state newspaper claimed to have weaponry which “can reach the continental US and Asia Pacific region” and the “absolute weapon,” hydrogen bomb.
Trump said he was sending “an armada” to Korean waters potentially to deal with threats from North Korea. The statement came after Pyongyang said it had successfully launched a new ballistic missile.
“We are sending an armada. Very powerful,” Trump told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo. “We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That I can tell you.”
The US Pacific Command said Tuesday that training with the Australian navy had been completed, and that “the Carl Vinson Strike Group is heading north to the Western Pacific as a prudent measure.”
Sunday’s threats are consistent with others North Korea has made in past weeks. North Korea has said it will respond in kind to any US attack on the country. And it has claimed it would strike the US mainland and US carriers and forces in the region, specifically US bases in South Korea and Japan.
Rodong Sinmun was equally outspoken last week after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a tour of Asian nations, said the US was “reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang”.
Rodong Sinmun replied: “In the case of our super-mighty pre-emptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only the US imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the US mainland and reduce them to ashes.”