U.S. deploys nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea after North Korea resumes missile checks

SEOUL, South Korea — The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine able to carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed missile checks in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills.

The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the primary of its variety in six years, is a part of a current bilateral agreements on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic belongings to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, in line with South Korean officers.

With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are to conduct drills on boosting their particular operation capabilities and joint capability to deal with rising North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean Defense Ministry stated in an announcement.

It stated the U.S. submarine arrived on the southeastern port metropolis of Busan however didn’t say how lengthy it will keep in South Korean waters.

The USS Michigan is among the greatest submarines on this planet. The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine might be armed with 150 Tomahawk missiles with a spread of about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) and is able to launching particular forces missions, in line with the South Korean assertion.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries have been increasing their workout routines in response to North Korea’s provocative run of missile checks since final yr. North Korea has argued it was compelled to ramp up testing actions to cope with its rivals’ expanded army drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, however specialists say the North in the end goals to modernize its arsenal and improve its leverage in eventual diplomacy.

In April, after their assembly in Washington, President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol agreed that United States will additional improve the “regular visibility of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.” Biden additionally acknowledged that any North Korean nuclear assault on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such motion.

The two leaders additionally introduced different steps to bolster joint deterrence capabilities such because the docking a U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarine in South Korea periodically; bolstering joint coaching workout routines; and the institution of a brand new nuclear consultative group. The nuclear ballistic missile submarine hasn’t come to South Korea.

Kim Yo Jong, the highly effective sister of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, slammed the Biden-Yoon summit agreements, saying they revealed the 2 international locations’ “most hostile and aggressive will of action” in opposition to the North. She threatened to additional bolster her nation’s nuclear forces.

On Thursday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards its jap waters, shortly after it vowed responses to the just-ended South Korea-U.S. firing drills close to the Koreas’ closely armed border.

They had been the North’s first weapons launches because it tried to place its first spy satellite tv for pc into orbit in late May. The launch failed because the rocket carrying the spy satellite tv for pc crashed into the waters off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast.