In a development bound to further rock the already dilapidating ties between the two nations, North Korea on Sunday threatened to sink an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific Ocean.
North Korea's state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial the country is ready to illustrate its "military force" by sinking a "nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike," reports CNN.
The paper also claimed to have weaponry which "can reach continental US and Asia Pacific region" and the "absolute weapon," hydrogen bomb.
US President Donald Trump had said the USS Carl Vinson carrier group was being deployed to waters off the Korean peninsula
The fresh threat comes in the wake of Trump announcing that he was sending "an armada" to the Korean waters potentially to deal with threats from North Korea.
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"We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That I can tell you," Trump said.
US defense officials told CNN the Vinson and its carrier group would arrive off the Korean Peninsula by the end of April.
However, Sunday's threats are consistent with others North Korea has made in past weeks. Besides asserting that it will respond in kind to any US attack on the country, Pyongyang has also claimed it would strike the US mainland and US carriers and forces in the region, specifically US bases in Seoul and Tokyo.
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