For the very first time since the 1980s, a United States nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine is in South Korea, as Seoul and Washington launch converses to bring together replies in the occasion of a nuclear war with North Korea. White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell committed the trip, which had been hoped for after it was declared in a collaborative announcement during a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden in Washington in April. “As we speak, an American nuclear submarine is making port in Busan today.
That’s the initial trip of (an) American nuclear submarine in more than ten years,” Mr Campbell conveyed to reporters in Seoul, where he is seeing the first Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) discussion with South Korean officials. The group, whose goal is to strengthen coordination of an allied nuclear response in the event of a war with North Korea, was also declared during the April summit amid raising calls in South Korea for its own nuclear weapons, a step Washington opposes. Mr Campbell said the submarine’s visit is happening due to American commitments to South Korea’s defence. South Korea’s principal deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo co-chaired the meeting.