United States Navy sends second aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula

Two U.S defense officials have announced that a U.S Navy aircraft carrier by the name Uss Ronald Reagan has been moved to the korean peninsula to conduct joint training with the USS Carl Vinson. The carrier will be used to launch and recover aircrafts; this comes after Kim Jong-un continues to conduct nuclear tests and military drills as a show of force and might. The aircraft carrier is reported to have been in maintenance in the port of Yokosuka, Japan.

The USS Ronald Reagan

The United States Navy has nine carriers similar to it and is named after U.S President Ronald W.

Reagan. Nuclear energy powers the USS Ronald Reagan. It is nicknamed the Gipper and began its operations in the year 2003. It is 332.8 meters long and 317 meters wide, and it can move at a maximum speed of 57 kilometers per hour and can carry up to 90 Aircrafts.

North Korea tensions with the U.S

The relations between North Korea and the United States have not been good since the Korean War when the U.S Air Force bombed part of North Korea leaving 20% of the countries population dead. North Korea then began developing nuclear weapons with the help of Russia in 1962. Its first nuclear test was conducted on October 9th, 2006. The country has so far threatened to continue developing nuclear weapons and conducting nuclear tests that are capable of striking South Korea and the United States.

Tensions between the two countries have largely been attributed to cold war politics. The number of nuclear warheads possessed by North Korea and their capabilities are still unknown.

Past conflicts between the two countries

The North Korean regime blocked Bill Clinton's idea of sending international inspectors in the year 1994 to verify whether the country was adhering to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Pentagon officials had at one time stated that the Clinton administration drew plans to strike a Nuclear reactor located in Yongbyon. In December 1994 a US helicopter was shot down over the North, and a pilot died while another was captured by soldiers in the North and held for 13 days. Under the Bush administration in December 2002, Spanish troops at the request of the U.S boarded and detained a shipment of missiles from North Korea destined for Yemen.

The ship was later released after two days. There was no conflict witnessed between the two countries during Obama's administration. Obama, however, imposed numerous sanctions on North Korea for continuing to conduct nuclear tests. Trump has on several occasions vowed to deal with the North Korean problem and has asked China for its help; he has also taken his frustrations on Twitter.