SEOUL (Nov 21): The US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson arrived at a port in the South Korean city of Busan on Tuesday, in a show of extended deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, South Korea's navy said.

The arrival comes as North Korea plans to launch a rocket carrying a space satellite between Nov 22 and Dec 1 in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, according to Japan's Coast Guard.

It would mark a third attempt by the nuclear-armed North this year to put a spy satellite into orbit.

In a statement, South Korean Rear Admiral Kim Ji-hoon said the arrival of the Carl Vinson showed a "strong combined defence posture and a determined willingness to respond to North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats" by the South Korea-US alliance.