2023-06-16 06:12:02
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States deployed a nuclear submarine with the capacity to carry about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed its weapons tests in response to joint exercises by Washington and Seoul with live fire.
The arrival of the USS Michigan in the country, the first for such a vessel in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement to increase the “regular visibility” of US strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula in response to the advances of the Pyongyang’s nuclear program, according to a South Korean official.
With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the navies of both countries will carry out exercises to enhance their special operations capabilities and joint ability to deal with the growing nuclear threats from the North, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The US submarine arrived in the southeastern port city of Busan, the note added, without specifying how long it would stay.
The Seoul and Washington militaries have been expanding their exercises in response to provocative missile tests conducted by Pyongyang since last year. The North maintains that it has been forced to intensify these tests to face the escalating exercises, which it considers to be a rehearsal for an invasion, but experts say that its ultimate goal is to modernize its arsenal and increase its influence in the face of an invasion. possible diplomacy.
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on Thursday, shortly after pledging to respond to recently completed joint exercises between its neighbor and the United States near their heavily armed border.
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