US WARSHIPS were dispatched to waters around the Korean peninsula over the weekend as Washington ramped up tension with Pyongyang.

The Carl Vinson strike group, comprising an aircraft carrier, cruisers and destroyers, was ordered to the region to maintain “readiness,” the US navy said.

“The number-one threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilising programme of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,” according to US Pacific Command spokesman Dave Benham.