US and Ally Double Up Against North Korea Nuclear Submarine Threat

The United States and South Korean navies held talks on undersea warfare as the alliance strengthened their capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear attack submarine.

Commander, Submarine Group 7 (CSG-7), a U.S. Navy unit that directs submarine activities in the Western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea, held the Submarine Warfare Committee Meeting with the South Korean navy submarine force from Thursday to Saturday at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, a U.S. naval base in Japan, according to CSG-7.

The naval base is CSG-7’s headquarters, where the two sides, including American Rear Admiral Chris Cavanaugh and his South Korean counterpart, Rear Admiral Kang Jeong-ho, had meetings, as well as visiting assets and facilities in relation to undersea warfare.

The bilateral engagement came after the nuclear-armed North Korea, which is estimated to have about 50 nuclear warheads as of January, acquired a diesel submarine for nuclear attack in September last year. Analysis said the submarine can house ten missiles in tubes for vertical launch, and its armament likely comprises four ballistic and six cruise missiles.

In January, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a test-fire of a submarine-launched strategic cruise missile. The country’s state media claimed the test was part of “building a powerful naval force” and that the “nuclear weaponization of the navy is an urgent task.”

“We frequently conduct operations and closely coordinate with the Republic of Korea Submarine Force, and with other allies and partners, in the Indo-Pacific to widen our shared advantages in the undersea domain,” said Cavanaugh, using South Korea’s official name. He also described undersea warfare as a “multi-domain, multinational team” effort.

CSG-7 said the U.S.-South Korea meetings, or SWCM, which have been held twice a year since 1994, complemented combined port visits, exercises, training, operations, and other military cooperation activities by the U.S. and South Korean submarine commands.

SWCM was a symbol of the two submarine forces’ friendship, said Kang, who discussed ways to strengthen mutual cooperation and improve combined operational capabilities with Cavanaugh during the meetings. “We will continue to strengthen our cooperation.”

The meeting came after port visits by the two countries’ submarines. From September 16 to 19, South Korean diesel-electric attack submarine ROKS Lee Beom-seok visited Naval Base Guam, a major U.S. military outpost on the strategic island in the Western Pacific Ocean.

There are currently four American nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class attack submarines assigned to Naval Base Guam. The U.S. Navy previously confirmed to Newsweek that USS Minnesota, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, will conduct a change of home port from Hawaii to Guam in the new fiscal year beginning on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a Virginia-class submarine, USS Vermont, arrived in Busan, a major port city in southeast South Korea, on September 23 for a regularly scheduled port visit. This visit followed North Korea’s continuing expansion of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, causing tensions on the Korean Peninsula to remain heightened.

During the meetings, Cavanaugh and Kang also visited U.S. Navy destroyer USS McCampbell, a warship armed with antisubmarine rockets and torpedoes, as well as an American P-8A Poseidon aircraft and an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter with antisubmarine capabilities.