North Korea threatens to destroy US nuclear submarine carrying Tomahawk missiles
North Korea has threatened to destroy the US Navy’s nuclear submarine “Michigan”, which stopped in the South Korean Busan port earlier last week, South Korean news agency Yonhap reports, with reference to a message from the North Korean propaganda portal Uriminzokkiri.
“The moment the Michigan tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to the miserable fate of becoming an underwater ghost, incapable of coming to the surface,” the authors of the message promise.
According to them, “the urgent movement of the nuclear submarine into waters in the region of the Korean peninsula, coinciding with the sending of a carrier battle group there, was called on to further strengthen the military threats against our republic”.
The USS Michigan, an Ohio-class nuclear submarine, entered the South Korean Busan port at the start of last week. It is meant to join the battle group headed by the Carl Vinson carrier, which is carrying out joint exercises with vessels from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force not far from the Korean peninsula.
Currently the US Navy possesses four nuclear-powered cruiser submarines with cruise missiles, rebuilt from the first Ohio-class missile-bearing vessels. During the upgrade, 22 of 24 missile silos originally intended for Trident C-4 ballistic missiles were redesigned for use with UGM-109 Tomahawk missile launchers (up to 154 units).
North Korea stated earlier that it is prepared to make a preemptive strike on the American military base if Washington resorts to political, economic or military provocation against Pyongyang. The spokesperson for the North Korean general staff explained that “if there is US aggression”, US military targets in Japan and South Korea will be attacked.