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Kim Yo-jong, these US submarines aren’t the ‘nuclear strategic assets’ you’re looking for
Quite a few people assume that when the US sends a nuclear aircraft carrier or a nuclear submarine to Korea, nuclear weapons are part of the package.
But nuclear carriers and nuclear submarines are named as such because of their method of propulsion — their movement is powered by energy derived from fission inside a nuclear reactor. To elaborate, some nuclear submarines indeed carry nuclear missiles, but others are only armed with conventional armaments, such as torpedoes and cruise missiles.
In a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on the evening of Sept. 24, Kim Yo-jong characterized a nuclear submarine that recently visited the South Korean port of Busan as a “nuclear strategic asset” and said “this clearly reveals the frantic military and strategic attempt of the US.”
“The Aerospace Reconnaissance Agency, an independent intelligence organ directly under the head of state of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, [detected] an abnormal object at a wharf, a subject of its constant attention at Pusan Port of the ROK at 10:03:10 on Monday and reported its reconnaissance data,” said Kim, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Choi Jong-il, the head of the South Korean Navy’s Seoul public relations team, addressed the submarine’s visit during the daily press briefing at the Ministry of National Defense on the morning of Sept. 24. “The USS Vermont, a nuclear-powered submarine with the US Navy, put in at the Busan Naval Base to restock supplies and provide recreation for its crew yesterday,” Choi said.
The USS Vermont (SSN-792) is a 7,800-ton nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarine with a length of 115 meters, a width of 10.4 meters, and a crew complement of around 130.
“The latest nuclear submarine, which has never appeared openly since it was commissioned in 2020, made its appearance at the Pusan operation base for the first time in history. It can hardly be regarded as a ‘sightseeing voyage,’” Kim remarked in the statement.
Kim mentioned recent activities involving US intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and strategic bombers before remarking, “The US let the latest nuclear submarine of the US Navy anchor in Pusan Port of the ROK, thus [taking] out all its cards called ‘three nuclear strategic assets.’”
The “nuclear triad,” a concept devised by the US during the Cold War, consists of ICBMs launched from the ground, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) in the ocean, and nuclear bombs dropped by strategic bombers in the air. The idea was to disperse nuclear weapons not only on the ground (with ICBMs) but also in the ocean (with strategic submarines) and in the sky (with strategic bombers) to enable strategic forces to survive a preemptive nuclear strike and launch a counterstrike.
The nuclear triad operates on a similar logic to diversifying investments in the world of finance, as illustrated in the proverb, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Kim asserted that the USS Vermont, which had called at the port of Busan, was a “nuclear strategic asset” and “a submarine whose mission is to mount a final nuclear strike under the sea.”
But Kim’s representation of the USS Vermont as a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, powered by a nuclear reactor and armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, is not factually correct.
Nuclear-powered US submarines are divided into three categories: nuclear attack submarines (SSN), nuclear guided missile submarines (SSGN) and nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). The USS Vermont is a nuclear-propelled submarine that falls into the first of these categories, a nuclear attack submarine.
The word “attack” in the name derives from the fact that submarines in this class have been used since the Cold War to attack surface vessels and other submarines. They are armed with conventional weapons: torpedoes and cruise missiles, for example.
Nuclear guided missile submarines, which are another class of submarine, only carry cruise missiles, and not nuclear missiles.
To summarize, nuclear attack submarines and nuclear guided missile submarines are not regarded as strategic assets because they do not carry nuclear weapons.
In contrast, nuclear ballistic missile submarines, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, are strategic assets. Those are the submarines “whose mission is to mount a final nuclear strike under the sea,” as Kim put it.
One example of a nuclear ballistic missile submarine is the USS Kentucky (18,000 tons), which called at the Busan Naval Base from July 18 to July 21 of last year.
“The DPRK’s nuclear war deterrent to cope with and contain various threats from outside [must] be bolstered [. . .] both in quality and quantity continuously and limitlessly as the security of the state is constantly exposed to the US nuclear threat and blackmail,” Kim said.
Kim, who is thought to be in charge of North Korean foreign affairs, including the US and South Korea, took the visit of the USS Vermont as an excuse to stress the US’ “nuclear threat and blackmail” and to legitimize North Korea’s efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal. But the USS Vermont isn’t armed with nuclear weapons.
By mistaking an attack submarine for a strategic submarine, Kim torpedoed her key argument about North Korea needing to acquire greater deterrence against nuclear war.
