USS Theodore Roosevelt Arrives in Asia-Pacific Amid Korean Peninsula Tensions

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US nuclear–powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group have arrived in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) entered the 7th Fleet area of operations (AOO), Oct. 23, to conduct maritime security operations, theater security cooperation and port visits."

The Theodore Roosevelt, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9 was accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser Bunker Hill and the guided-missile destroyers Halsey, Preble and Sampson.

The aircraft carrier's deployment comes amid the escalation of the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, which have further ignited amid the US-South Korean massive drills that kicked off earlier in October, involving the deployment of 28,000 American troops to South Korea, the US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Stethem and USS Mustin. Pyongyang has repeatedly slammed the annual drills it considers a threat to its security. Most recently, North Korea vowed to carry out an "unimaginable strike" if the drills continued.

On October 23, the US also deployed the US Eighth Army to South Korea as a part of regular non-combatant evacuation drills, dubbed Courageous Channel. As a part of the drills, the troops will stay in the region until October 27.

Simultaneously, the US, South Korea and Japan have launched the fifth cross-navy exercise off the Japanese and South Korean coasts since June 2016, where the sides will allegedly jointly practice detecting and tracking missiles launched in North Korea.

During an early September visit to Seoul, US Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Scott Swift promised to deploy a carrier strike group near the Korean Peninsula to demonstrate Washington’s "ironclad" commitment to South Korea’s security, according to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo news daily.