Japan plans to join US carrier group heading to North Korea

Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ships might join the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for naval drills as the group of ships centered around the aircraft carrier heads for the Korean Peninsula.

Japan would dispatch its destroyers when the U.S. ships enter the East China Sea, Reuters reported military sources as saying.

The move is likely to further provoke Kim Jong Un and the North Korea regime. Pyongyang officials already said they would respond to “reckless acts of aggression” with force.

The deployment of the U.S. Navy’s carrier strike group to the Korean Peninsula was announced last Saturday following another North Korean missile test.

USS Carl Vinson was originally supposed to sail for port visits to Australia and was redirected north in response to North Korean actions.

The carrier strike group is composed of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy, and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57).