April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Confusion over the deployment of a US aircraft carrier continued to roil South Korea on April 19 following the revelation that the Carl Vinson Strike Group, initially announced by the US to be heading toward the Korean Peninsula, had instead spent the last week thousands of kilometers away, sailing in the opposite direction. 

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its three accompanying warships would soon embark on its trip toward the East Sea of South Korea, having completed its joint exercise with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean, according to the US and Korean officials.

“They are going to start heading north toward the (Eastern Sea) within the next 24 hours,” an unidentified US defense official told AFP. Citing multiple defense officials, CNN reported that the strike group will arrive in the waters off the Korean Peninsula by the end of April.

The US Pacific Command’s spokesperson also told The Korea Herald by email that the Strike Group has completed a previously scheduled training with Australia and is “heading north to the Western Pacific” -- without clarifying their specific destination.

Separately, Rear Adm. Jim Kilby, a commander of Carrier Strike Group 1, announced on April 19 that the deployment of the carrier group had been extended by a month “to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula.”

The controversy surrounding the group’s route began with a photo released by the US Navy on April 15 that showed the carrier passing north through the Sunda Strait, the passage between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, about 5,600 kilometers from the peninsula.

A senior US administration official told the CNN that miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House, and a lack of follow-up among US commanders, were to blame for confusion over the movement of the carrier group.

Despite the reports coming out of White House and other senior cabinet members on Carl Vinson’s impending arrival on the peninsula, the US Navy has not refuted those reports, although it has never explicitly confirmed Korea as its destination or discussed a timeline.

Ever since the US Navy third fleet announced a diversion of Carl Vinson from Australia to the Western Pacific on April 9, the Trump administration has appeared to suggest that the ship is heading toward the Korean Peninsula to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat. 

When asked about the Carl Vinson’s movement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on April 10 the aircraft carrier was “on her way up there” and that the measure was “most prudent” but not based on a specific demand or signal.

In an interview with Fox News that aired on April 12, US President Donald Trump said he sent a “very powerful armada,” responding to the question why the US sent Carl Vinson and its warships toward the Korean Peninsula.  

By Yeo Jun-suk/The Korea Herald (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)