US Carrier Strike Group around North Korea

A US carrier strike group (with the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier) completed military exercises — and would now head north and would be in the area of North Korea for weeks.

The USS Carl Vinson’s crew is getting an extra month at sea as the strike group sails toward the Korean peninsula following much confusion over its initial orders.

The announcement by the group’s commander, Rear Adm. James Kilby, came after photos showed the aircraft carrier and its fleet of warships were nowhere near the divided peninsula as tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program reached a peak.

“Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean peninsula,” Kilby wrote Wednesday on the group’s Facebook page.