U.S. nuclear submarine arrives off coast of South Korea

According to the South Korean Navy, the Virginia-class warship USS Missouri (SSN-780) has entered a key naval base 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

"With the deployment of the U.S. warship, we plan to strengthen naval exchanges and cooperation with the United States, as well as strengthen our common defense posture," the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

The arrival of the warship came after South Korea and the United States held the second meeting of the Nuclear Deterrence Consultative Group in Washington.

The United States and South Korea are working on a joint nuclear defense strategy that would allow for the creation of an integrated system to deter North Korea's nuclear weapons by the middle of next year.

The day before, the White House issued a statement in which the United States reminded North Korea that the use of nuclear weapons would lead to the "end of the regime" of the current leader Kim Jong-un.

Launch of intercontinental missiles by the DPRK

At the end of May this year, the DPRK tried to launch a "spy satellite" Malligyong-1 into orbit, but the launch vehicle fell into the Yellow Sea.

Later, on June 16, South Korea recovered several parts of the rocket and satellite from the seabed. After analyzing the found parts, experts said that the satellite had no reconnaissance value at all.

The DPRK made a second attempt to launch a satellite on August 23. Tokyo said that Pyongyang used banned ballistic missile technology and that the projectile flew through the airspace near Okinawa.

On November 22, North Korea announced the successful launch of a ballistic missile with a spy satellite on board. Data from South Korea's intelligence agency indicate that the DPRK received assistance from Russia for the successful launch.