Kurt Campbell, the White House’s Indo-Pacific Policy Coordinator, announced on Tuesday that a US submarine armed with nuclear ballistic missiles has arrived in South Korea. This marks the first time such an event has occurred since the 1980s. The arrival of the nuclear submarine comes at a time when the allied nations are beginning to coordinate responses for a potential nuclear war with North Korea.
The submarine’s arrival, a long-awaited event, was announced by Campbell during his visit to Seoul for the inaugural nuclear consultative group talks with South Korean officials. North Korea last week denounced what it sees as the United States’ effort to bring a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine into waters near the Korean Peninsula, a move it claimed brings nuclear conflict closer to reality.
In April, South Korean and US leaders agreed that a nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine from the US Navy would visit South Korea for the first time since the 1980s. This was part of a plan to enhance the deployment of US strategic assets to more effectively respond to North Korea’s threats and weapons testing in defense of its ally, South Korea, as agreed upon by the leaders.
The South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, stated in written remarks to the Associated Press last week that it is time to show “the international community’s resolve to deter North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is stronger than North Korea’s desire to develop nuclear weapons.”
North Korea’s statement claims that the movement of nuclear submarines creates a “very dangerous situation that makes it impossible for us not to realistically accept the worst scenario of a nuclear confrontation.”
