North Korea fires two short-range missiles into the sea as U.S. docks nuclear submarine in South Korea

The launches came as the U.S.-led United Nations Command tries to secure the release of a U.S. soldier who fled to North Korea from the South Korean side of a border village Tuesday afternoon.Private 2nd Class Travis King, in his early 20s, had just been released from a South Korean prison where he was held on assault charges.

The flight distance of the North Korean missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the North Korean launches as “major provocation” that threatens peace and stability in the region and said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely monitoring the North for further weapons activities.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles while attempting to demonstrate a dual ability to conduct nuclear attacks on both South Korea and the continental United States. The allies in response have stepped up their joint military training and agreed to increase the deployments of U.S. strategic assets like long-range bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines to the region.

U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement that the Kentucky’s arrival in Busan reflects the United States’ “ironclad” commitment to “extended deterrence,” referring to an assurance to defend its ally with its full military capabilities, including nuclear ones. While some South Korean conservatives have expressed disappointment that the Biden-Yoon meeting in April came short of agreeing to station U.S. nuclear weapons or strategic assets in the South, placing nuclear weapons offshore and on submarines is “actually a stronger deterrent in many ways,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at Washington’s Center for a New American Security.

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