U.S. Nuclear Submarine to Arrive in Mid-May

A nuclear-armed U.S. submarine arrives in Busan in mid-May in accordance with an agreement to strengthen nuclear protection of South Korea struck by presidents Yoon Suk-yeol and Joe Biden on April 26.

Its arrival in Busan is expected to coincide with the G7 summit on May 19-21 in Hiroshima, Japan. It will be the first U.S. strategic submarine to come here in 42 years.

A senior government official here told the Chosun Ilbo, "The deployment will be a show of force to warn North Korea that if it launches a nuclear attack, it'll meet its doom."

In a statement on April 27, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the U.S. "will also enhance the visibility of its strategic assets in the region under the joint declaration to include an upcoming visit of a nuclear-armed ballistic submarine to South Korea."

But for security reasons, details of the submarine's port call at Busan will not be announced beforehand, a U.S. military source said.

The vessel is probably a 170 m-long and 12.8 m-wide Ohio-class submarine with a displacement of 18,750 tons, the largest ever built for the U.S. Navy. The most likely candidate is the USS Maine that arrived in Guam recently.