USS Ronald Reagan, a U.S. Navy Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, departs from the South Korean Fleet Command in Busan, Monday, for combined drills with the South Korean Navy. The two allies have begun their biggest naval exercise in five years in response to North Korea's intensifying nuclear threat. Yonhap

Warships, nuclear-powered submarine, fighter jets send warning to North Korea

By Jung Min-ho

South Korea and the United States started their biggest combined naval exercise involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier near the peninsula since 2017, a day after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile in its latest military provocation.

According to the Ministry of Defense and Navy, Monday, the allies will mobilize more than 20 vessels including the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class supercarrier of the U.S. Navy, as well as key South Korean warships, such as the 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Seoae Ryu Sung-ryong and the 4,400-ton Munmu the Great destroyer, for the four-day drills.

Other participating maritime assets include the nuclear-powered USS Annapolis submarine, USS Chancellorsville, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, USS Barry, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer and USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Formidable air force and army weapons including F/A-18E Super Hornets, P-3 and P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft, AH-64E Apache helicopters and South Korea's most advanced fighter jets ― F-15K and KF-16 ― will also take part in the East Sea training exercise.

"Through this exercise, we will further improve the combined operations capability between the naval forces of the two countries," Kwak Kwang-sub, a senior South Korean naval officer, said in the statement. "Over the past 70 years, the two countries have cooperated to defend peace and free democracy of the Korean Peninsula."

Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, commander of the Carrier Strike Group 5, said the exercise will demonstrate the two allies' power and strong will to defend their shared values against North Korea's evolving threat.

Details of the exercise remain undisclosed. But it is expected to include drills to respond to North Korea's missile attacks and to detect and track its underwater threats. North Korea is believed to have the world's largest submarine fleet ― operating up to 90 diesel-powered submarines.

The exercise would mark the two allies' first joint drills involving the Reagan in South Korea's territorial waters since 2017, when the U.S. sent the aircraft carrier and two others for joint drills with the South in response to North Korea's sixth nuclear weapons and missile tests. Intelligence reports show that the North may be on the verge of another nuclear test.

Aircraft are parked on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, in Busan, Friday. UPI-Yonhap

Early Sunday morning, North Korea's short-range ballistic missile fired from the western town of Taechon, North Pyongan Province, flew about 600 kilometers before falling in waters off its eastern coast, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

South Korea's military believes it may have been a KN-23, a North Korean missile first tested in 2019. Similar to the Russian Iskander, it has a range of 600-700 kilometers and can carry a nuclear warhead. From the launch point, in theory, the missile can reach the South Korean port city of Busan, where the Reagan was docked before the drills.

South Korea's military officials told reporters that there are signs that North Korea may test other weapons such as a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) this week as another major diplomatic event between the two allies ― U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to Seoul ― is set to take place on Thursday.

Earlier this month, North Korea passed a law enshrining the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect its regime. Some experts say the chances of achieving the denuclearization of North Korea through talks may be close to zero now, if not already there.

North Korea has performed a record number of missile tests this year despite U.S. and South Korean calls to resume negotiations on the nuclear issue, declaring that it will never give up its nuclear arsenals and that its status as a nuclear weapons state is "irreversible."