US strike group heads toward Korean Peninsula

WASHINGTON: A US Navy strike group was moving toward the Korean Peninsula on Saturday, the US military confirmed, as the United States boosts its defenses against North Korea´s growing nuclear ambitions.

"US Pacific Command ordered the Carl Vinson Strike Group north as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the Western Pacific," said Commander Dave Benham, a US Pacific Command spokesman.

"The number one threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability," he told AFP.