U.S. sends message to North — and China — with second sub visit to South

A nuclear-powered U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea on Monday, marking the second deployment of a U.S. strategic asset in the past week intended to highlight Washington's extended deterrence commitment to Seoul.

South Korean Navy troops welcome the nuclear-powered USS Annapolis submarine into port at Jeju Island on Monday. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA NAVY]

A nuclear-powered U.S. submarine arrived in South Korea on Monday, marking the second deployment of a U.S. strategic asset in the past week intended to highlight Washington's extended deterrence commitment to Seoul.

The arrival of the Los Angeles-class USS Annapolis at a port on Jeju Island, which the South Korean Navy said was to replenish supplies, came amid intensified saber-rattling by the North and four days after the Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic submarine USS Kentucky departed from the southeastern city of Busan.

In a text message sent to reporters on Monday, the South Korean Navy said the main mission of the USS Annapolis includes anti-ship and anti-submarine operations but did not go into specifics.

“On the occasion of the visit by the USS Annapolis, the navies of South Korea and the United States plan to strengthen their combined defense posture and conduct exchanges to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” the armed service said.

Thursday, July 27, marks the 70th anniversary of the armistice that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, which was never formally concluded with a peace treaty. South Korea and the United States signed a mutual defense treaty just over two months later on Oct. 1, 1953.

When asked whether South Korean and U.S. forces will hold combined drills involving the USS Annapolis, Navy Commander Jang Do-young told reporters that allied defense officials have consulted each other on the possibility.

The USS Kentucky was the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine to make a publicly announced port call to South Korea in over 40 years.

The consecutive submarine visits follow a pledge by Washington to enhance the “regular visibility” of its U.S. strategic assets in the Washington Declaration announced by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden during their summit in April.

While Ohio-class submarines such as the USS Kentucky are armed with ballistic and cruise missiles mounted with nuclear warheads, Los Angeles-class submarines such as the USS Annapolis are equipped with Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles without nuclear weapons.

In an interview with ABC News, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said the presence of the USS Annapolis is “a projection of strength that we need right now to deter aggression.”

McCaul also said that the deployment of U.S. strategic assets to South Korea is also designed to send a warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as North Korea’s leadership against undertaking “aggressive” actions.

“North Korea needs to know that we're there and we have superiority with the submarines and nuclear subs,” he said, adding, “We need to get in their head and Chairman Xi’s head that if they do anything that’s aggressive militarily, there will be consequences to that.”

The arrival of the latest U.S. nuclear-powered submarine came after South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the North fired several cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea on Saturday and two ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Wednesday.

In an editorial issued Monday, the mouthpiece of the North’s ruling party said that there will be “no end” to the regime’s efforts to strengthen its military capabilities, despite its moribund economy.

“There can be no end to strengthening military power,” the Rodong Sinmun said, arguing the pursuit of more powerful weapons should continue "at any cost.”

The editorial also claimed that “eternal peace lies atop of self-defense power that can overwhelmingly prevail against any enemy.”

The North has repeatedly pointed to the U.S. military presence in South Korea and joint exercises by Seoul and Washington as proof of the allies’ “hostile” intent and justification for its development of nuclear weapons and missiles.

The editorial appeared to acknowledge that the North had fallen behind its neighbors in economic development, but also attributed anemic growth to the regime’s priority on deterring “nuclear war.”

“Had our nation and people concentrated on economic development like others, a nuclear war that would have brought about a bigger catastrophe compared with all the wars in history would have broken out dozens of times and today’s civilized world would not have existed,” the editorial said.

Last month, the Stimson Center’s 38 North think tank issued a report that found current food price levels “remain far higher than normal,” suggesting the North “is experiencing a significant food shortage.”

Despite the shortages, the North’s state media has exhorted its people to “tighten their belts” and rejected foreign aid as “poisoned candy” and “a bait used to curb and subjugate other countries’ economic development and undermine their economic prestige and interests.”

The Korean Institute for Defense Analyses issued a report in December that estimated that North Korea could have covered its food shortages if it had used the money spent on missile launches on foodstuffs and fertilizer instead.

Although South Korean President Yoon in August laid out what he called “an audacious initiative” offering Pyongyang large-scale food and development aid if it gave up its weapons, the offer was quickly scorned by Kim Yo-jong, the sister of regime leader Kim Jong-un.

“No one barters their destiny for corn cake,” Kim said in a statement in which she also called the South Korean plan the “height of absurdity.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]