A US carrier strike group has been deployed off the Korean Peninsula for the first time in five years as tensions grow between North and South Korea over Pyongyang’s latest run of missile launches — and American officials fear an underground nuclear test by the totalitarian regime.

The Navy confirmed on Tuesday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln — along with nine air squadrons, the USS Mobile Bay missile cruiser and Destroyer Squadron 21 — was conducting routine “bilateral operations” with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense force in the Sea of Japan.

South Korea’s defense ministry has said it is aware of the deployment. 

The Lincoln was initially deployed from San Diego and led an “air demonstration” in the Yellow Sea last month in response to recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests launched by North Korea. 

The US Seventh Fleet said at the time that the move was to show Washington’s “resolve and commitment to our regional allies.” 

“The ICBM launches by DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] are a brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions—as well as its international commitments—and pose a threat to regional neighbors and the international community,” the Navy said in a statement, using North Korea’s official acronym. “We have made clear our growing concern over the significant increase in DPRK’s missile testing, and we will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the United States and our allies.”

The deployment comes only weeks after North Korea announced it successfully test-fired a Hwasong-17 missile that is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and hitting the US mainland. 

Days later, however, South Korea’s military stated that both Seoul and Washington believed the missile was a Hwasong-15 — an ICBM which has not been tested since 2017 and which also has the ability to hit the US. 

During the 2017 testing period, the US moved forward with a massive show of force, deploying the USS Ronald Reagan, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Nimitz as well as their strike groups to the Sea of Japan, according to Reuters. 

While the US continues to warn of further ICBM testing by North Korea, tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul have rapidly grown, with Kim Yo Jong — the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un — saying last week that her country would use nuclear weapons in retaliation for any South Korean attack.  

“If South Korea, for any reason — whether or not it is blinded by misjudgment — opts for such military action as ‘preemptive strike’ touted by [Suh], the situation will change,” Kim Yo Jong said, according to state propaganda agency KCNA. “In that case, South Korea itself will become a target.”

Her comments came after South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook revealed their military has “the ability to accurately and quickly hit any target in North Korea.”