North Korea launches two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters in a resumption of weapons tests to protest just-ended South Korean-U.S. live-fire drills that it viewed as an invasion rehearsal.
The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials.
With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are to conduct drills on enhancing their special operation capabilities and joint ability to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. It said the U.S. submarine arrived at the southeastern port city of Busan but didn’t say how long it would stay in South Korean waters.The USS Michigan is one of the biggest submarines in the world. The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine can be armed with 150 Tomahawk missiles with a range of about 1,550 miles and is capable of launching special forces missions, according to the South Korean statement.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries have been expanding their exercises in reaction to North Korea’s provocative run of missile tests since last year. North Korea has argued it was forced to ramp up testing activities to deal with its rivals’ expanded military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, but experts say the North ultimately aims to modernize its arsenal and increase its leverage in eventual diplomacy.
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