The USS Michigan -- a guided-missile submarine -- is expected to make a visible port call in South Korea on Tuesday, according to a US defense official. The US Navy submarine is expected to dock in the port city of Busan, South Korea, on the same day that North Korea celebrates the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army.

Start the conversation, or Read more at WHBF-TV Rock Island. </s> The USS Michigan -- a guided-missile submarine -- is expected to make a visible port call in South Korea on Tuesday, according to a US defense official. The US Navy submarine is expected to dock in the port city of Busan, South Korea, on the same day that North Korea celebrates the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army.

Start the conversation, or Read more at MyHighPlains.com. </s> The nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan approaches to join the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in drills near the Korean Peninsula, at Busan port in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday, April 25, 2017. North Korea marks the founding anniversary of its military on Tuesday, and South Korea and its allies are bracing for the possibility that it could conduct another nuclear test or launch an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Gazette. </s> USS Michigan, an Ohio-class guided missile submarine, has reached South Korea’s Busan port. Although the submarine is reportedly on a “routine deployment,” it may have been deployed as a show of force to North Korea. Amidst rising tensions in the region, the advanced submarine with precision strike capabilities will remain in the port for “hull check,” confirmed military sources.

The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered Ohio class submarine with a slew of precision-guided Tomahawk cruise missiles, has reached Busan, a bustling port in South Korea. Although the submarine, which was originally designed to safely carry and launch nuclear missiles, is expected to make a routine port call, the timing indicates it may have been deployed in the region to act as subtle but powerful statement to North Korea.

According to Fox News, which confirmed the deployment, as well as the scheduled arrival of USS Michigan in Busan, the Ohio-class submarine will initially make a port call to the South Korean port city and then will head to the Sea of Japan. The sub will reportedly join the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group for advanced naval exercises. The official description of these exercises hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the aircraft carrier is currently in the Philippine Sea. Moreover, the U.S. Navy vessels will be joined by those belonging to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. Together, the two forces are expected to travel north to the Korean peninsula.

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When asked about the deployment of USS Michigan, Lieutenant Commander Matt Knight with U.S. Pacific Fleet, said, “U.S. Navy ships and submarines routinely make port calls in a variety of locations. As a matter of routine, we do not discuss future operations or the details regarding the operations of our submarines. USS Michigan is currently on a routine deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific.” The Lt. Commander had previously mentioned that the submarine was “on an independent deployment.”

Once designed to deliver a nuclear payload, the converted ballistic missile tubes in USS Michigan can hold as many as 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. However, it may be currently stacking about two dozen of the precision missiles. Part of the land attack and SOF (Special Operation Forces) platform, USS Michigan is one of four Ohio-class guided-missile submarines. The four submarines can collectively haul and fire up to 616 Tomahawk missiles. These submarines are manned by more than 250 specially trained marine forces that include the elite and deadly Navy SEALs.

Currently ruled by Kim Jong Um’s dictatorship, North Korea recently demonstrated several new missile systems and configurations at a military parade. Although the country claims to possess several powerful missile technologies, they haven’t been independently verified, and their strike capabilities have not been proven yet. However, the lack of credible and verifiable information hasn’t stopped the country from hinting at long range strike capabilities. The military parade was held on April 15 to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung. Interestingly, North Korea’s calendar lists the current year as Year 106 because it reportedly started on the day the Kim Il-sung was born.

Military experts on North Korea have predicted that the tiny country may choose to carry out its sixth underground nuclear test soon. Its current leader has reportedly threatened North America several times through the tightly controlled regional news publications. Hence, the USS Michigan could be on a routine mission, but its presence in the Korean peninsula may be a show of force. </s> WASHINGTON — The USS Michigan — a guided-missile submarine — arrived in South Korea for what a US defense official described as a show of force amid tensions between the US and North Korea.

The US Navy sub arrived in the port city of Busan, South Korea, on the same day that North Korea celebrates the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army.

Publicly the US Naval Forces Korea called the sub’s visit to the region “routine” and said the scheduled port call was a chance to highlight the alliance between the US and South Korean navies, but quietly officials told CNN that the timing is not a coincidence.

While the USS Michigan is not expected to take part in the joint exercises, its presence in the region is meant to send a strong message to Pyongyang.

US President Donald Trump told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo earlier this month that the US was sending an “armada” with submarines to the region.

“We are sending an armada. Very powerful,” President Trump told Bartiromo. “We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. That I can tell you.”

Analysts at the time suspected President Trump might be referring to Ohio-class subs like the Michigan.

Armed with tactical missiles and equipped with superior communications capabilities, the Michigan is one of four US Navy subs that began service as a ballistic missile submarine, loaded with nuclear missiles as part of the US strategic nuclear deterrent.

In the 2000s the Navy converted four of the Ohio-class subs into land-attack platforms armed with conventional weapons.

Each of the four submarines can carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. They are also outfitted to stealthily deploy up to 66 Navy SEALs or other special operations troops and their equipment.

The Michigan could be deployed in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, off the Korean Peninsula, said Carl Schuster, a Hawaii Pacific University professor and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.

“Nuclear submarines prefer to operate in water over 100 fathoms deep (600 feet). Not always possible but they like having a lot of vertical space to duck and dodge in if they encounter anything unpleasant,” Schuster told CNN.

The 560-foot-long, 18,000-ton Michigan is one of four converted Ohio-class subs, joining the USS Ohio, USS Florida and USS Georgia.

The Michigan’s visit to Busan comes after North Korea on Sunday threatened to sink the American aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which is beginning joint drills with two Japanese destroyers in the western Pacific Ocean.

The Vinson will be joined by the Ashigara and Samidare destroyers in “tactical training” drills near the Philippines, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force said.

North Korea’s state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial the country is ready to illustrate its “military force” by sinking a “nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike.”

The North Korean state newspaper claimed to have weaponry that “can reach continental US and Asia Pacific region” and the “absolute weapon,” or a nuclear hydrogen bomb. </s> News that the USS Michigan, one of the US navy’s 18 Ohio class nuclear submarines, has docked in South Korea at a time of mutual threats and bluster between North Korea and the Trump administration, has been seized on by many people as a further sign of US threats against North Korea.

This is very unlikely. Ohio class submarines are the carriers of Trident missiles, sea launched intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads which form the cornerstone of the US’s strategic nuclear deterrent, which is pitched not against North Korea but against Russia and China. It beggars belief that the Trump administration is seriously contemplating a nuclear war against North Korea with Trident missiles, which would be nuclear overkill matching the darkest fantasies of Dr. Strangelove.

USS Michigan also has the capability to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles with conventional warheads. However it hardly seems an efficient use of resources to use a strategic missile submarine to launch conventionally armed cruise missiles against a target in North Korea when there are other platforms far more obviously suited to this role. If the US really is considering a submarine launched cruise missile strike against North Korea, then US attack submarines such as the Seawolf and Virginia classes equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles would seem a far more obvious and logical platform from which to launch it.

Beyond this there is the fact that patrols of Ohio class submarines, precisely because they are the keystone of the US’s strategic nuclear deterrent, are planned months and possibly even years in advance. Whilst the US could of course always in theory redeploy an Ohio class submarine to the seas around Korea at short notice, the probability must be that the visit of the USS Michigan to South Korea was scheduled long ago, probably before Donald Trump became President, and that its arrival in South Korea now during a period of crisis is just coincidence.

However before leaving this subject, it is however worth adding something which arises from President Trump’s own statements.

As President Trump and his advisers have been cranking up an atmosphere of crisis around North Korea, he and they have bragged that alongside the US navy carrier Carl Vinson US nuclear submarines ‘”far more powerful” than the Carl Vinson have also been deployed to the seas around North Korea. Thus in an interview with Fox Business Network on 11th April 2017 President Trump made this extraordinary statement

If those comments were intended to refer to USS Michigan – which of course in a sense really is “far more powerful than an aircraft carrier” – then unless the President and his officials have taken leave of their senses, and really do intend to use her in action against North Korea, this was yet another bluff, and moreover an extremely stupid one.

The Russians probably do not have the global ocean surveillance capabilities necessary to track closely US nuclear submarines, but they probably do have some rough idea of where Ohio class strategic missile submarines like the USS Michigan are at any particular point in time. The US is known to keep a close watch on the movements of Russian strategic missile submarines, and though the Russians probably cannot fully match this capability, their resources are probably sufficient to enable them to at least keep an eye on the movements of US strategic missile submarines, and to know roughly where they are. There are after all only 18 of them, and not all of them are at sea at the same time.

The Russians probably also have some knowledge of the movements of US nuclear attack submarines like those of the Seawolf and Virginia classes, just as the US is known to have knowledge of the movements of Russian nuclear attack submarines. Again it is unlikely the Russians can fully match the US’s ocean surveillance capabilities, but they probably have a more than general idea of which US nuclear attack submarines are where, and which of them might be in the north east Pacific.

It is a certainty that the Russians share all this information with China as part of the intelligence sharing arrangements they have with China.

If the USS Michigan was indeed the “powerful submarines” President Trump was talking about, then it is virtual certainty the Russians and the Chinese knew the fact. Since they would not believe Trump would use USS Michigan to attack North Korea that would make them even more inclined to write off his threats as empty bluff.

It would also be a further sign of the chronic amateurism and incompetence of this administration.

Of course it could be that President Trump has more shots in his locker, and that USS Michigan is not the “powerful submarines” he was referring to. It is a reflection of the chaotic nature of his administration that unfortunately one cannot be sure. </s> The U.S. Navy has canceled planned port calls in Australia for the USS Carl Vinson and is instead sending the aircraft carrier toward the Korean Peninsula amid concerns about possible new weapons tests by North Korea, military officials said.

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said the president has ordered him to prepare “a full range of options” to the nuclear and missile threats North... </s> A US nuclear submarine armed with guided missiles has made a port call in South Korea, while Pyongyang is reportedly holding massive long-range artillery drills amid muscle-flexing in the region and rising tensions between Washington and North Korea.

The USS Michigan nuclear submarine arrived in South Korea on Tuesday “during a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific,” according to a statement issued by the US Pacific Fleet.

The submarine is one of the four Ohio-class nuclear vessels, one of the largest in the world “measuring more than 560 feet long and weighing more than 18,000 tons when submerged.”

The US military praises the sub as a weapon to “provide the Navy with unprecedented strike and special operation mission capabilities.”

The move comes at a tense time in relations between Washington and Seoul on one side and North Korea on the other.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang celebrates the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army. The jubilee was marked by massive – yet conventional – drills, which featured some 300-400 long-range artillery pieces and were supervised by North Korean leader Kin Jong-un, according to Yonhap News agency citing South Korean Army sources.

In a fresh stage of escalation between the US and North Korea, President Donald Trump early in April promised to send a “very powerful armada,” led by the aircraft carrier ‘USS Carl Vinson,’ to press Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear and missile programs.

Despite the threats, North Korea went on to test new ballistic missiles, although the launch failed.

The “armada” should arrive in the waters surrounding the peninsula “within days,” US Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday, without giving specific details.

Pyongyang has repeatedly urged Washington stop its “military hysteria” and come to its “senses” – or face a “merciless response.”

North Korea called the deployment of the ‘Carl Vinson’ carrier group “an extremely dangerous act by those who plan a nuclear war to invade,” and even vowed to sink the carrier with a “single strike.”

Kim In Ryong, North Korean ambassador to the UN, accused the US of using “gangster-like logic” and being “hell-bent on dangerous saber-rattling in South Korea,” while speaking at a press conference in New York last week.

“The United States [is] introducing in South Korea, on the Korean Peninsula, the world’s biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening the peace and security of the peninsula and pushing it to the brink of war,” Kim told reporters.

While Pence last week announced an “end of strategic patience” from the US towards North Korea, stating that “all options are on the table,” US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley said Monday that they were not “trying to pick a fight with him [Kim Jong-un].”

“We are not going to do anything unless he gives us reason to do something,” she said.

“But right now, we're saying, 'don't test, don't use nuclear missiles, don't try and do any more actions,' and I think he's understanding that,” Haley added.

“And China's helping really put that pressure on him.”

Pyongyang was alarmed by the US deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea earlier this year, warning that such actions might lead to further escalation and ultimately to a nuclear war.

Russia and China have also opposed the deployment, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described as “disproportionate.” </s> SEOUL, April 25 (Reuters) - North Korea conducted a big live-fire exercise on Tuesday to mark the foundation of its military, media reported, as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid growing concern over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.

The port call by the USS Michigan came as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steamed towards Korean waters and as the top envoys for North Korea policy from South Korea, Japan, and the United States met in Tokyo.

Fears have risen in recent weeks that North Korea could conduct another nuclear test or long-range missile launch in defiance of U.N. sanctions, perhaps on the Tuesday anniversary of the founding of its military.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that the North appeared to have deployed a large number of long-range artillery units in the region of Wonsan on its east coast on Tuesday, for a live-fire drill.

The report, citing an unidentified South Korean government source, said the exercise was possibly supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said it could not immediately confirm the report.

"Our military is closely monitoring the North Korean military's movement in Wonsan areas and we are firmly maintaining readiness," South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

North Korea's state media was defiant in a commentary marking the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Army, saying its military was prepared "to bring to closure the history of U.S. scheming and nuclear blackmail".

"There is no limit to the strike power of the People's Army armed with our style of cutting-edge military equipment including various precision and miniaturised nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles," the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a front-page editorial.

North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps the most serious security challenge confronting U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile and has said all options are on the table, including a military strike.

He sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group for exercises in waters off the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea and a show of solidarity with U.S. allies.

South Korea's navy said it was conducting a live-fire exercise with U.S. destroyers on Tuesday in waters west of the Korean peninsula and would soon join the carrier strike group approaching the region.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshide Suga told media that China's nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, would hold talks with Japanese Foreign Ministry officials on Tuesday. A ministry source said Wu was likely to meet his Japanese nuclear counterpart on Wednesday.

Japan's envoy on North Korea, Kenji Kanasugi, said after talks with his U.S. and South Korean counterparts that they all agreed China should take a concrete role to resolve the crisis and it could use an oil embargo as a tool to press the North.

"We believe China has a very, very important role to play," said the U.S. envoy for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun.

Matching the flurry of diplomatic and military activity in Asia, the State Department in Washington said on Monday U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would chair a special ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council on North Korea on Friday.

Tillerson, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Joint Chiefs chairman General Joseph Dunford, would also hold a rare briefing for the entire U.S. Senate on North Korea on Wednesday, Senate aides said.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said those meetings called by U.S. officials clearly reflected the U.S. pressure that could "ignite a full-out war" on the Korean peninsula.

"The reality of today again proves the decision to strengthen nuclear power in quality and quantity under the banner of pursuing economic development and nuclear power was the correct one," the unidentified spokesman said in a statement issued by the North's state media.

On Monday, Trump called for tougher U.N. sanctions on the North, saying it was a global threat and "a problem that we have to finally solve".

"The status quo in North Korea is also unacceptable," Trump told a meeting with the 15 U.N. Security Council ambassadors, including China and Russia, at the White House. "The council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programmes."

The official China Daily said on Tuesday it was time for Pyongyang and Washington to take a step back from harsh rhetoric and heed voices of reason calling for a peaceful resolution.

"Judging from their recent words and deeds, policymakers in Pyongyang have seriously misread the U.N. sanctions, which are aimed at its nuclear/missile provocations, not its system or leadership," the newspaper said in an editorial.

"They are at once perilously overestimating their own strength and underestimating the hazards they are brewing for themselves," it said.

In a phone conversation with Trump on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all sides to exercise restraint.

As the carrier group drills continued, the USS Michigan arrived in the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday, the U.S. Navy said. The nuclear-powered submarine is built to carry and launch ballistic missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

As well as his military show of force, Trump has sought to press China to do more to rein in its nuclear-armed neighbour.

China, North Korea's sole major ally, has in turn been angered by Pyongyang's belligerence, as well as its nuclear and missile programmes. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, Kaori Kaneko, Linda Sieg, Elaine Lies and Tim Kelly in TOKYO, and Steve Holland, Matt Spetalnick, Susan Heavey and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)
The USS Michigan docks at Busan, South Korea, amid growing concerns over North Korean weapons development.