US Sends Second Submarine To South Korea As Both Allies Try To Deter North

This deployment serves as a display of strength and solidarity between the US and South Korea, who are now allies, to deter potential nuclear threats from North Korea.

A nuclear-powered US submarine reached South Korea on Monday in the second deployment of a significant US naval asset to the Korean Peninsula this month. The arrival of the USS Annapolis at a port on Jeju Island comes approximately a week after the USS Kentucky docked at the mainland port of Busan. This deployment serves as a display of strength and solidarity between US and South Korea, who are now allies, to deter potential nuclear threats from North Korea. News agency Reuters cited the South Korean Navy as saying that the "USS Annapolis entered a naval base in South Korea's southern island of Jeju, to load military supplies while on an unspecified operational mission."

The Navy issued a statement in which it said, "The two countries' navies plan to strengthen the combined defence posture with the arrival of the USS Annapolis, and conduct exchange activities to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the alliance," as reported by Reuters.

The USS Annapolis is not nuclear-armed like the USS Kentucky rather it specialises in anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare. It joined the trilateral anti-submarine exercises with South Korea and Japan last year in September in international waters off the Korean peninsula, as reported by Reuters.

The first US ballistic missile submarine viz. USS Kentucky made port in South Korea on Tuesday. This was the first US nuclear-armed missile submarine that made port in the nation since the 1980s. Coincidentally it overlapped with the launch of talks between the US and South Korea to coordinate responses in the event of a possible nuclear war with North Korea.

Just hours after the USS Kentucky's visit, Korth Korea launched two ballistic missiles on Wednesday, and then it again fired several cruise missiles on Saturday.

During the period between the missile launches, North Korea's defence minister issued a thinly veiled threat, suggesting that the docking of the USS Kentucky in South Korea could potentially be considered a reason for the North to employ a nuclear weapon against its neighbour.