Carrier task force to South Korea

SEOUL, July 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington will dock at Busan, South Korea, ahead of a joint naval drill the U.S. military says is a warning to North Korea.

Based in Yokosuka, Japan, the nuclear-powered carrier is scheduled to dock Wednesday along with the destroyers USS McCampbell and USS John S. McCain, Yonhap reported Monday.

The USS George Washington carries about 60 aircraft, including F-18 Super Hornets.

The warships are part a task force staging a massive drill in the East Sea next week as a saber-rattling exercise to deter provocations by North Korea, Yonhap said.

In March, 46 sailors died when the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, was sunk by a torpedo strike by a North Korean vessel.

The drill was originally going to be held in the Yellow Sea, where the Cheonan went down, but the location was changed to the East Sea on the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula in an apparent bow to China's objections the drill was too close to its territorial waters, Yonhap said.

Further details about the exercise are scheduled to be announced Wednesday by Secretary of State Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.