janice mackey freyr is in seoul with the latest. >> reporter: the carl vinson carrier strike group leftingapore heading for ports in australia, but was redeployed to the western pacific because of tension on the korean peninsula. now, this is likely to push anxiety even higher, particularly in pyongyang after president trump ordered that strike on syria that was widely interpreted as a message to north korea that the u.s. is willing to use force. north korea has reacted sharply to the syria strike calling it an unforgivable act offing a agrees saying it justifies their need for nuclear weapons and the foreign ministry added that it will bolster its own defenses. the overwhelming concern of course with any strike on north korea is its ability to counter strike, strategically that is how it differs from syria. north korea has missiles pointed here at seoul, this is a city of 10 million people and there are also tens of thousand of u.s. troops based in the region. it's not clear how long the carrier group will remain in the region. it was just here a month ago for joint military drills wit

janice mackey freyr is in seoul with the latest. >> reporter: with tension extremely high here, there was a massive parade of missiles and military hardware in pyongyang. the regime has promised a big event to mark this important day on the calendar and it certainly delivered. experts believe there was at least one or as many as three new types of entintercontinenta ballistic missile. the sort of weaponry kim jong-un has threatened will be capable of reaching the united states. kim was there watching the show, also backing the latest threat from the regime that if -- that the u.s. faces all-out war and annihilation if north korea is attacked. there is an area of the world that is familiar with this sort of tension, but what distinguishes this escalation from past crises is the role of china. china is emerging as a broker, as the main ally of north korea and the country's economic life line. china is urging both sides to back down to avoid having a situation spiral out of control. as it stands, neither side appears to be willing to do so. the risk of course is that a small mistake coul