Pilot ejects from jet on U.S. aircraft carrier headed to Korea

The Navy admitted Tuesday the ships were in fact sent in the opposite direction - away from Singapore and toward Australia to conduct drills with the Australian navy.

CNN then published a story headlined: "US aircraft carrier-led strike group headed toward Korean Peninsula". There are no injuries at this time, the statement said.

The aircraft carrier will arrive in waters near the Korean peninsula early next week.

A US military official who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity said the Carl Vinson's scheduled to return to the United States would also be delayed by a month.

"We are encouraged by the steps that China has taken so far", he added.

Tensions have risen sharply in recent months after Pyongyang conducted two nuclear weapons tests a previous year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests in defiance of United Nations resolutions and sanctions.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson would be in the Sea of Japan before the end of April, in what is seen as a display of force aimed at North Korea.

"We are sending an armada".

Vice President Pence said the United States would honor a controversial refugee deal with Australia, under which the United States would resettle 1,250 asylum seekers, a deal President Donald Trump had described as "dumb". "She will be on her way", the Pentagon chief told reporters as he made a stop in Saudi Arabia on a tour to the Middle East.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was asked why the Vinson strike group was moving to the Korean Peninsula during an interview with Fox News on April 9.

Beijing is Pyongyang's only major ally and biggest trade partner and has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. to do more to rein in the North.

"If you are going to threaten the North Koreans, you better make sure your threat is credible", said Joel Wit, a co-founder of the 38 North program of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

"She's just on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time". Does the vice president seriously believe that North Koreans, looking through binoculars and telescopes, would see his steely gaze and adopt a new posture, intimidated by Pence's face?

"We continue to be hopeful and continue to have great confidence that we can finally after a generation achieve a peaceable solution".

The United States is also strengthening its reinforcements ahead of April 25, when North Korea is expected to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army.

His comments came a senior North Korean official warned the regime had no intention of scaling down its missile program, pledging weekly tests and threatening "all-out war" if the United States took any action against it.