North Korea ‘ready for war’ after US redeploys navy strike team

North Korea has warned of “catastrophic consequences” in response to any further provocations by the US, days after a US navy battle group was sent to waters off the Korean peninsula, and was met by Donald Trump with a repeated threat of unspecified unilateral action.

The US president said on Twitter that he would “solve the problem” of North Korea if China did not provide greater help in exerting pressure on its neighbour.

The shrill rhetoric has been matched by a military build-up.

The decision to divert the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and other battleships from a planned visit to Australia to the western Pacific came after tensions increased over ongoing military drills involving American and South Korean forces that Pyongyang regards as a dress rehearsal for an invasion.

Tillerson: China agrees on ‘action’ on North Korea as navy strike group sails
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“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. “(North Korea) is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.”

 

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