▲ USS Kentucky (SSBN 737) is berthed at Busan naval base, southeast of Seoul, on July 19, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

US submarine-N Korea

S. Korea visit by USS Kentucky aimed at promoting peace: Pentagon

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Yonhap) -- The ongoing visit by a U.S. nuclear capable submarine to South Korea is in response to North Korea's evolving threats and is aimed at promoting peace and stability in the region, a Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday, dismissing North Korea's claim that it leads to further escalation.

The Department of Defense spokesperson, Lisa Lawrence, also stressed that the port call by USS Kentucky, an 18,750-ton Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), is not in violation of any international rules unlike North Korea's illicit missile tests.

"The actions taken by the U.S.-ROK alliance in the Washington Declaration and through the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) are a prudent response to the DPRK's escalatory and dangerous behavior, and further the alliance's goal of promoting peace and stability in the region," Lawrence told Yonhap News Agency in an email, referring to South and North Korea by their formal names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to a port visit by an SSBN under the Washington Declaration they signed during their bilateral summit in Washington in April. The Washington Declaration also established the NCG which is aimed at bolstering U.S. extended deterrence to South Korea.

The allies held their first NCG meeting in Seoul this week.

North Korea's defense minister argued Thursday (Korea time) that the visit by the U.S. submarine to South Korea posed the "most undisguised and direct nuclear threat" to North Korea, adding that increasing visibility of U.S. strategic assets in the region may "fall under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK law on the nuclear force policy."

The Pentagon spokesperson rejected the North's claim.

"The DPRK's continuing efforts to advance its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities greatly undermine regional security and stability," said Lawrence.

"Unlike the DPRK's actions, U.S.- ROK efforts to improve our defense posture and protect our citizens from overt DPRK threats to use nuclear weapons are not in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions," added the Pentagon spokesperson.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]