The US sent a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine to South Korea for the first time in six years in a show of force meant to deter North Korea from military strikes.
(Bloomberg) — The US sent a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine to South Korea for the first time in six years in a show of force meant to deter North Korea from military strikes.
The USS Michigan docked at a naval base in the southern city of Busan, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday. It is there for joint training between the allies meant to “respond to the advancing North Korean threat,” it said in a statement.
The visit comes after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol won assurances during a summit with President Joe Biden in April to strengthen extended deterrence measures, including more regular deployments of nuclear-armed submarines.
The displays of US military might are meant to serve as a reminder of a warning Biden issued to leader Kim Jong Un during a meeting with the South Korean president that a nuclear strike by North Korea would be suicidal.
The North Korean leader has been defiant, firing off two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday night as his regime protested massive live fire-exercises between the US and South Korea that ended this week just south of the border that divides the two Koreas.
The USS Michigan, launched in 1980, is built to carry Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the US Navy said. South Korea said it is one of the largest submarines in the world and can be armed with over 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The US sent the submarine to South Korea in 2017 is a show of force when tensions were on the rise with North Korea.
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