Washington/Seoul: China has reportedly deployed 1,50,000 troops to the North Korean border to prepare for pre-emptive attacks against North korea after the US airstrikes on Syria, according to media reports. The US hit Syria with 59 Tomahawk missiles on Friday. The attack was widely interpreted as a warning to North Korea. During the weekend the US diverts its Navy strike group Carl Vinson from port calls to Australia and moved it towards the Korean peninsula. On Tuesday there were reports that China has deployed medical and backup units from the People’s Liberation Army forces to the Yalu River. The troops have been dispatched to handle North Korean refugees and “unforeseen circumstances”, such as the prospect of preemptive attacks on North Korea, Korea’s Chosun.com reported.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said in a tweet that North Korea was “looking for trouble” and the United States would “solve the problem” with or without China’s help. “I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Mr Trump wrote in an earlier tweet. Tension has escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula, with talk of military action by the United States gaining traction following its strikes last week against Syria and amid concerns the reclusive North may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test. Meanwhile, North Korea has denounced the US deployment of the naval strike group to the region and warned that it is ready for “war” as Washington tightens the screws on the nuclear-armed state.

“This goes to prove that the US reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase,” a spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said according to state news agency KCNA. “The DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US,” he said, using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Mr Trump, fresh from ordering a missile strike on Syria that was widely interpreted as a warning to North Korea, has asked his advisors for a range of options to rein in Pyongyang, a top US official had said on Sunday. Speculation over an imminent nuclear test is brewing as the North marks anniversaries including the 105th birthday of its late founder on Saturday — sometimes celebrated with a demonstration of military might.

Thousands of troops and top military officials gathered in Pyongyang on Monday to pledge loyalty to leader Kim Jong-Un ahead of his grandfather's birth anniversary, state media said. State TV showed thousands of goose-stepping soldiers marching in unison, carrying giant portraits of the regime's founder Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il, in front of the Kumsusan mausoleum where their embalmed bodies are on display. “If they (the US and the South) try to ignite the spark of war, we will wipe out all of the invaders without a trace with... our strong pre-emptive nuclear strike,” Hwang Pyong-So, director of the political bureau at the North’s army, said in a speech. Kim was not seen at the event televised on Tuesday.