USS MichiganUS Nuclear-Powered Sub to Join USS Carl Vinson Near Korean Peninsula
SputnikNews.com
24.04.2017
South Korean military officials said Monday that the USS Carl Vinson would be joined by a US submarine for military drills off the Korean Peninsula later this week.
“The nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan will enter the waters off the peninsula soon or later to jointly conduct drills with the USS Carl Vinson,” one official told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
It comes amid a tense standoff between Pyongyang and Washington as a war words between the two nations continue to fly. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) called the submarine’s deployment “undisguised military blackmail.” Pyongyang feels that the annual drills are little more than dress rehearsal for invading the North and removing its top leadership, namely Supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
The North also said the presence of the Michigan would create a “touch-and-go” situation on the peninsula, with Rodong Shinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, writing on Monday, “If the enemies recklessly provoke the DPRK, its revolutionary armed forces will promptly give deadly blows to them and counter any total war with all-out war and nuclear war with a merciless nuclear strike of Korean style.”
The paper also warned that “Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” according to UPI.
There has been concern worldwide over expectations that Pyongyang will conduct its sixth nuclear test soon, as the North is reportedly developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the US mainland.
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