The USS Vermont sails to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, July 27, 2023. (Tommy Heng/U.S. Navy)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — A U.S. fast-attack submarine and its crew of around 130 sailors arrived at South Korea’s largest post on Monday, the first stop in Busan by a U.S. sub that’s been disclosed since December.
The USS Vermont’s visit to the city, about 200 miles south of Seoul, is a scheduled port visit, Submarine Group 7 spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Samuel Boyle said in an emailed statement Monday.
The sub’s visit “reflects our commitment to the region and complements the many exercises, training, operations, and other military cooperation activities,” he wrote.
No additional details were provided. The Navy and U.S. Forces Korea do not disclose how long U.S. warships are docked in South Korea as a matter of policy, citing operational security.
The Vermont was docked in Busan to replenish its supplies and allow its crew to rest, South Korean navy spokesman Choi Jong-il said during a news conference Tuesday.
The Vermont’s port call to Busan is a “frantic military and strategic attempt … on intentionally demonstrating the ‘superiority of strength’ before the world,” Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, said in a statement published by KCNA on Tuesday.
“No matter how the U.S. may demonstrate its ‘overwhelming capability’ … nothing will change,” she reportedly said.
The Vermont was commissioned in 2020 and is homeported at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
At least three U.S. submarines made port calls on Busan last year. The USS Missouri, Kentucky and Michigan last docked there on Dec. 16, July 17, 2023, and June 16, 2023, respectively.
One of those, the Ohio-class USS Kentucky, is capable of carrying nuclear-tipped strategic ballistic missiles. The Navy does not disclose whether its subs are carrying nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden reaffirmed to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol that Seoul is “backed by the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear,” according to a White House news release July 11.
“Any nuclear attack by [North Korea] against the [South] will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response,” the release said.
Kim earlier this month called for his country to boost its nuclear weapons production, citing threats from the United States and South Korea.
Pyongyang is forced to bolster its nuclear arsenal because it is “constantly exposed to a serious nuclear threat,” Kim said in a speech in Pyongyang, according to a Sept. 9 report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
