The US navy says another nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, will arrive in the western Pacific in 2011.

The carrier will bring to three the number of the US aircraft carriers operating in the region, joining the George Washington in Japan and the Carl Vinson that just arrived in Guam.

Many analysts believe the presence of three aircraft carriers is the biggest military provocation to the DPRK in six decades, and will escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

But others say that is not the case as the US deployment is a long-planned and regular one, which is not targeted at the DPRK.