The San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrived in the South Korean city of Busan on Tuesday, in a show of deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, South Korea’s navy said.
The nuclear-powered warship’s arrival comes as North Korea plans to launch a rocket carrying a space satellite between Nov. 22 and Dec. 1 in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, according to Japan’s Coast Guard,
It would mark a third attempt by the nuclear-armed North this year to put a spy satellite into orbit.
In a statement, South Korean Rear Admiral Kim Ji-hoon said the arrival of the Carl Vinson showed a “strong combined defense posture and a determined willingness to respond to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile threats” by the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
The Carl Vinson is the carrier from which 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was buried at sea after he was killed by a Navy SEAL team.
Reuters contributed to this article.