US Guided-Missile Submarine Docks in South Korea for First Time in 6 Years

The USS Michigan was deployed after North Korea test fired two missiles

The guided-missile submarine USS Michigan arrives in Busan, South Korea, on April 25, 2017. The USS Michigan is in South Korea for a scheduled port visit while conducting routine patrols throughout the western Pacific. USN Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jermaine Ralliford via Getty Images

The United States on Friday sent a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine to South Korea after North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches, which landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The USS Michigan is the first nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine to dock in South Korea in nearly six years, Yonhap News Agency reported.

South Korea’s military said the USS Michigan arrived at Busan Port as part of the Washington Declaration signed between the two countries in April, but it did not specify how long the submarine will be in South Korean waters.

“[It] demonstrates the overwhelming capabilities and posture of the South Korea-U.S. alliance to realize peace through strength,” South Korean fleet commander Vice Admiral Kim Myung-soo told reporters.

This came after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday, which Japan said had landed within its EEZ near the Ishikawa prefecture.

The first ballistic missile was launched from the Sunan area in North Korea at around 7.25 p.m. (local time), followed by the second missile at 7.37 p.m. (local time), according to the JCS.

Japan’s defense ministry said the two missiles may have flown in an irregular trajectory and landed about 155 miles northwest of Hegura island, part of the Ishikawa prefecture.

Prior to the launches, a spokesperson for North Korea’s defense ministry warned of an “inevitable” response and said the U.S.-South Korea joint drills escalated the military tension on the Korean Peninsula.

“Our armed forces will fully counter any form of demonstrative moves and provocation of the enemies,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The latest action by North Korea came as U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was in Tokyo for meetings with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.

The three officials discussed North Korea’s missile program and confirmed that they would work closely together to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, according to a readout of the meeting released by Japan.

Washington Declaration

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Biden signed the Washington Declaration on April 29, outlining a set of U.S. extended deterrence measures involving deploying U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula.

In the declaration, South Korea expressed “full confidence” in U.S. extended deterrence commitments, and Washington pledged to make “every effort” to consult with South Korea on “any possible nuclear weapons employment” in the region.

Biden said at a joint press conference the United States will deploy nuclear-capable systems to the Korean Peninsula and warned that any nuclear attack by North Korea “will result in the end” of that regime.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un regime condemned the Washington Declaration as the “product of heinous hostile policy” against it and vowed to bolster its military deterrence, KCNA reported on May 1.

The regime said the U.S.–South Korea accord aimed at strengthening extended deterrence and trilateral cooperation with Japan is equivalent to “a dangerous nuclear war plot putting up the signboard of security.”

A test launch of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasong-18, at an undisclosed location in this still image of a photo used in a video released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 14, 2023. KCNA via Reuters TV

The country has conducted a series of missile launches this year, including one involving a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-18, and launched its nuclear-capable underwater drone.

U.S. nuclear envoy Sung Kim said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency that Washington will maintain close consultations with South Korea, Japan, and other allies on ways to deter North Korea’s aggression and coordinate international responses to North Korea’s violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“The DPRK has increasingly engaged in threatening and irresponsible rhetoric, including by characterizing some of its missile launches and other military activities as trial runs for the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” Kim said on June 4, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Reuters contributed to this report.