Nuclear sub USS Kentucky makes port in Busan, South Korea

A US nuclear-capable submarine has made port in South Korea for the first time in four decades — days following North Korea’s testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“As we speak, an American nuclear submarine is making port in Busan today,” Kurt Campbell, the White House Indo-Pacific coordinator, told reporters in Seoul on Tuesday.

Campbell did not identify the submarine by name during his comments to the press — but it was later confirmed to be the USS Kentucky, an Ohio class SSBN (Sub-surface ballistic nuclear), by South Korea’s defense ministry.

The move is an effort to display America’s strong commitment to its South Korean allies as tensions on the peninsula continue to boil.

“The United States’ ironclad commitment to the Republic of Korea for our extended deterrence guarantee,” the US military said in a statement on Tuesday, using South Korea’s official name.

The Ohio-class submarines have the payload ability to carry 20 Trident II D5 Missiles — with each missile capable of being equipped with eight nuclear warheads and can hit targets as far away as 7,500 miles, according to the outlet,.

Busan is a little more than 300 miles south of the capital of Pyongyang, North Korea.

North Korea — following its test firing of intercontinental ballistic missiles last week — warned against America and its allies’ flaunting of military force near its borders.

On Monday, the isolated nation condemned the actions of its neighboring Korea and the US for its discussions of the possible use of nuclear weapons during the inaugural meeting in Seoul of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG).

The US and South Korean panel was set up by the countries’ leaders at a summit in Washington D.C. in April.

“Openly discussing the use of nukes against the DPRK and the entry of US strategic nuclear submarine into waters of the Korean Peninsula for the first time in 40-odd years,” Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior official in her own right, said in a statement Monday according to CNN.

Washington announced in April that the US would be sending the sub to South Korea in an effort to better coordinate with its allies in the area in the event of North Korea engaging in war or nuclear conflict.

“We intend to take steps to make our deterrence more visible through the regular deployment of strategic assets, including a US nuclear ballistic submarine visit to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s,” a senior White House official said earlier this year.

North Korea also accused the US last week of violating its airspace with a spy plane — revealing they have the capability to shoot down such flights, but exercised restraint on that occasion.

The report also cited the use of US reconnaissance planes and drones and said Washington was escalating tensions by sending a nuclear submarine near the peninsula.

“There is no guarantee that such a shocking accident as the downing of the US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen” in waters east of Korea, the spokesperson said.

Around the same time the USS Kentucky arrived in South Korea, a US Army soldier who had been punished for misconduct while stationed in South Korea was detained in North Korea after straying across the border without permission.

The detainee has been identified as Travis King, South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported, citing South Korea’s army.

With Post wires