America's decision to move a Navy strike group towards the Korean peninsula is a "prudent" reaction to a pattern of provocative behaviour from North Korea, the White House national security adviser said on Sunday, as the secretary of state insisted he was hopeful that China would put pressure on Pyongyang.

The Pentagon announced late on Saturday that a Navy carrier strike group is moving toward the western Pacific Ocean to provide a physical presence near the Korean Peninsula. The carrier group includes the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, with support from several missile destroyers and missile cruisers.

"It's prudent to do it, isn't it?" said H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser.

"This is a rogue regime that is now a nuclear-capable regime, and President Xi and President Trump agreed that that is unacceptable, that what must happen is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."