North Korea Calls Deployment of Strategic Assets on Korean Peninsula "The Spark for a Nuclear War Targeting the Republic"

"Disgraceful Plea for Additional Deployment of US Strategic Assets"

US Nuclear-Powered Submarine USS Key West
[Image Source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] As U.S. strategic assets are successively deployed on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea is showing a sensitive reaction and remaining on alert.

Following the arrival of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a nuclear submarine has also docked, and the B-1B Lancer strategic bombers taking off from the Guam base have capped off the U.S.-South Korea joint air exercise "Vigilant Storm," which seems to have caused North Korea to feel burdened. The U.S. and South Korea plan to further increase the frequency of deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula.

The external propaganda media Ryomyong stated in a commentary issued on the 8th under the name of Kim Yu-sung of the National Reconciliation Council, "The United States has stationed four strategic bombers at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, with two of them forward-deployed in Japan, and nuclear aircraft carriers and strategic submarines are frequently coming and going at Busan Port."

It also claimed that the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula is "an expression of an impure intention to ignite the fuse of nuclear war aimed at the Republic at any time and to plunge our nation into nuclear catastrophe."

This statement is interpreted as referring to the recent docking of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76, 103,000 tons) and the nuclear-powered submarine USS Key West (SSN-722, 6,000 tons) at Busan Port, as well as the deployment of B-1B strategic bombers at the Guam base. Previously, the Los Angeles (LA)-class attack submarine USS Key West entered Busan Port on the 31st of last month. At that time, the U.S. Department of Defense’s disclosure of the arrival of the submarine, whose stealth is a key feature, was interpreted as sending a strong warning message to North Korea.

US Strategic Bomber B-1B Lancer

The statement also included criticism of the recent 54th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) between South Korea and the U.S.

The media sarcastically remarked, "The so-called puppet defense minister shamelessly begged the master at the recent South Korea-U.S. defense ministerial meeting to allow the arbitrary additional deployment of all available nuclear strategic assets, including U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and strategic bombers, on the Korean Peninsula."

At the SCM held in Washington D.C. on the 4th of this month, the defense ministers of South Korea and the U.S. agreed to increase the frequency and intensity of U.S. strategic asset deployments on the Korean Peninsula to operate them with effects equivalent to permanent stationing. In particular, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin included in the joint statement a message that if North Korea uses nuclear weapons, it would "bring about the end of the Kim Jong-un regime."

The media also mentioned recent joint U.S.-South Korea exercises from Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) to Vigilant Storm, asserting, "What cannot be overlooked is that the various exercises conducted by the traitorous Yoon Seok-yeol faction are openly boasting that they are drills to master and complete the capability for focused strikes on our Republic’s key bases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.