For the first time in decades, the US military has stationed a nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) in a port in South Korea. This development is likely to ratchet up tensions with North Korea.
According to South Korea’s defense ministry, an Ohio-class submarine named the USS Kentucky arrived in the port of Busan on Tuesday.
One of the biggest SSBNs in the world and one that can transport more than 20 Trident-II ballistic missiles is the 170-meter-long USS Kentucky.
read more: South Korea welcomes arrival of US nuclear submarine
It is extremely uncommon for a US SSBN to dock in a South Korean port. It was the US SSBN’s first trip to the nation in nearly 44 years.
An American nuclear submarine is currently docking in Busan as we speak. “That’s the first visit of [an] American nuclear submarine in decades,” White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell told reporters at a briefing in Seoul, where he was attending the first Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) conversation with South Korean officials.
The two nations reached a number of recent agreements in April as a show of force against North Korea’s expanding military might.
The periodic deployment of strategic assets to the peninsula was agreed upon by US President Joe Biden and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea. Additionally, they had decided to expand military drills and create a bilateral NCG.
The submarine’s visit to South Korea, according to Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, was a significant military action that “shows the allies’ overwhelming capability and posture against North Korea.”
Lee was quoted as saying, using the official name for South Korea, “This deployment of a US SSBN to the Korean Peninsula demonstrates by action that the US extended deterrence (commitment) to the Republic of Korea will be firmly implemented.”.
In the event of a conflict, the US is committed to using “extended deterrence,” which means that American forces are prepared to attack North Korea using all of their available military resources, including nuclear weapons.
At the first NCG meeting, held on Tuesday in Seoul, representatives from the US and South Korea participated.
They discussed strategies for fortifying themselves against North Korea’s nuclear advancements during the meeting.
The two nations declared in a joint statement following the meeting that “any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime.”
Following the announcement in a joint statement made during the Yoon and Biden summit in April in Washington, DC, it was anticipated that “regular deployment [to the peninsula] of strategic assets” would take place.
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