The USS Nimitz, one of the world’s largest warships,
will join two other supercarriers, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS
Ronald Reagan, in the western Pacific, the sources told VOA’s Steve
Herman.
But North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threat is seen as a
major security challenge for President Donald Trump, who has vowed to
prevent the country from being able to strike the U.S. with a nuclear
missile, a capability experts say Pyongyang could have some time after
2020.
Sitting alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said
Friday just before the start of Group of Seven (G-7) meetings in Sicily
that G-7 leaders would have a “particular focus on the North Korea
problem.”
US Navy Show Of Might Near North Korea:
A White House statement issued Friday said the two
leaders have agreed to “enhance sanctions on North Korea” in an attempt
to prevent the further development of North Korea’s ballistic missile
and nuclear programs.
US tests missile defense system
The U.S. military, meanwhile, will test a system to shoot down
an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time next
week.It is intended to simulate a North Korean ICBM aimed at the U.S.
The
Missile Defense Agency said it will test an existing missile defense system on Tuesday to try to intercept an ICBM. The Pentagon has used the
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system to intercept other types of missiles, but never an ICBM.
The GMD has been inconsistent, succeeding in nine of 17 attempts
against missiles without intercontinental range capability since 1999.
The most recent test, in June 2014, was successful — but three straight subsequent tests were failures.
