For the first time since the 1980s, the United States has deployed a nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) to South Korea, as the allies launched talks to coordinate their responses in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell confirmed the rare visit on Tuesday, which had been expected after it was announced in a joint declaration during a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC in April.
“As we speak, an American nuclear submarine is making port in Busan today. That’s the first visit of [an] American nuclear submarine in decades,” Campbell told reporters at a briefing in Seoul, where he was attending the first Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) discussion with South Korean officials.
Periodic visits by US SSBNs to South Korea were one of several agreements reached by the two countries’ presidents in April in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threat. They had also agreed to establish a bilateral NCG and to expand military exercises.
Credit: aljazeera.com
