USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to return to East Sea after North Korea's IRBM launch

A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier will be redeployed to the waters east of South Korea in a show of the allies' readiness to deal with North Korea's provocation, Seoul's military said.

The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier left the waters following a joint naval exercise also involving Japan last week, Yonhap reports.

But it will return to the high seas of the East Sea in response to the North's firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on October 4 that flew over Japan, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It said it is "very unusual" for a US aircraft carrier to be redeployed so soon around the peninsula.