N-E Asia on high alert for further N Korean threats

Tokyo

TENSIONS mounted sharply in Northeast Asia on Tuesday as a US nuclear-powered submarine capable of launching ballistic missiles docked in the South Korean port of Busan ahead of the expected arrival of a strike group of US vessels despatched by Washington as a warning to North Korea.

The movements at sea came amid an intense flurry of diplomatic activity involving the US, Japan, China and South Korea and designed to prepare for a possible further missile launch by North Korea to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army