Seoul, July 24 (BNA): A US nuclear-powered submarine arrived in South Korea today, just days after the first nuclear-armed US submarine arrived at a port in the country in four decades, as the two allies seek to bolster US strategic assets to deter North Korea.
The South Korean Navy said the USS Annapolis entered a naval base on Jeju Island in southern South Korea to load military supplies while on an unspecified operational mission.
“The two countries’ navies plan to enhance their common defense posture with the arrival of the US aircraft carrier Annapolis and conduct exchange activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the alliance,” it added in a statement.
The USS Kentucky, an American ballistic missile submarine, arrived at a port in South Korea last Tuesday. It was the first visit since the 1980s by a US nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) and coincided with the launch of talks between the US and South Korea to coordinate responses in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Wednesday hours after the USS Kentucky visited, and again fired several cruise missiles on Saturday.
The USS Annapolis is not nuclear-armed unlike the USS Kentucky and specializes in anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare, and it joined trilateral anti-submarine exercises with South Korea and Japan last September in international waters off the Korean Peninsula.
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