FOR the first time in more than four decades, a United States’ submarine capable of launching nuclear ballistic missiles has docked in South Korea earlier this week angering Pyongyang.
The USS Kentucky, 18,750-ton Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine or SSBN arrived in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday, on the same day of the inaugural meeting of the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group or NCG.
According to North Korea’s state-run media, Korea Central News Agency or KCNA, Pyongyang’s Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam issued a warning through a statement on Thursday. He said, “I remind the U.S. military of the fact that the ever-increasing visibility of the deployment of the strategic nuclear submarine and other strategic assets may fall under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK Law on the nuclear force policy.”
“To the U.S. and the ‘ROK’, any use of their military muscle against the DPRK will be their most miserable choice, by which they will have no room to think of their existence again,” Kang Sun-nam, Defense Minister, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea said
In response to this, South Korea’s defense ministry also said in a statement,“In the event of any North Korean nuclear attack against the South Korea-U.S. alliance, it will face an immediate, overwhelming, and decisive response from the alliance, and we strongly warn again that through this, the attack will result in the end of the North Korean regime.”
“North Korea will never gain any concessions from the South Korea-U.S. alliance through its nuclear development and threats, and we urge it to recognize that its isolation and destitution will only deepen and to come out swiftly on the path of denuclearization,” South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.
According to the United States, the U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine, USS Kentucky or SSBN 737 port visit in Busan, is their commitment to the Republic of Korea for their extended deterrence guarantee, that they are available and ready to operate around the globe at any time.
It can be recalled that Pyongyang launched 2 short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, and currently, tensions in the region remain high.
