U.S. nuclear sub, F-22 fighters to come to S. Korea as warning against N. Korea

The United States has started to send warning messages to North Korea, which has indicated that it would make missile provocations on October 10, the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers` Party of Korea.

"The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the state-of-the-art fighter F-22 Raptors will come to South Korea next month," said a military official in Seoul on Thursday. "The USS Ronald Reagan is one of the U.S. Navy`s key reinforcement forces in the event of an emergency situation on the Korean Peninsula." Washington has also decided to forward deploy 15 percent of its entire Marine Corps troops to the Asia-Pacific region in consideration of the North`s nuclear and missile provocation.

The 104,200-ton USS Ronald Reagan will make a port call at Busan Port on October 18 to attend the 70th anniversary of South Korea`s liberation from Japan`s colonial rule and the South Korean Navy`s founding. The aircraft carrier will make Japan`s Yokosuka its new home port, replacing USS George Washington. Carrying some 6,000 crew personnel and some 80 aircrafts, including the F-18 Super Hornet fighters and the E-2C Hawkeye aircrafts, USS Ronald Reagan is called a "floating air base."

The F-22 Raptor fighter jets will participate in the ADEX 2015 defense exhibition that will take place in South Korea from October 10 to October 25. In a nutshell, two of the four core strategic assets of the U.S. (aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines, nuclear bombers and the F-22 Raptor fighters) will come to South Korea in October. "There has been no signs of the North`s launch of a long-range missile yet, but the deployment of the key U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula will show the strength of the South Korea-U.S. alliance," a Seoul military official said.

The U.S. Marine Corps Times reported Wednesday (local time) that Lieutenant General John Toolan, the head of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, said he would deploy about 15 percent of his entire troops to Hawaii and the Pacific area to prepare for the increasing nuclear threats from North Korea and a possible collision between China and a regional neighbor over territorial issues in the South China Sea.

Currently, the U.S. Marine Corps has about 182,000 troops. Among them, 84,000 are deployed to Marine commander in Hawaii and Okinawa. The U.S. Marine Corps plans to have a total of 27,000 forward-deployed to Hawaii and the Pacific west coast areas.

neone@donga.com