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US submarine makes South Korea port call amid reports of artillery drill by the North


A US submarine arrived in South Korea on Tuesday as it prepares to join an "armada" of warships sent to the region by Donald Trump to confront Pyongyang.
The nuclear-powered USS Michigan, which is built to carry and launch ballistic missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles, made the port call amid growing concerns that North Korea was set to carry out a nuclear test.
Kim Jong-un’s regime marks the 85th anniversary on Tuesday of the founding of its Korean People's Army – a symbolic date which observers believe could see a test of military hardware.
Such concerns eased during the afternoon, with no reports of tests, but South Korean media said the North was carrying out its “largest-ever live-fire drills” to mark the occasion.
The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) arriving in Busan, South Korea,
The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) arriving in Busan, South Korea, CREDIT: EPA/US NAVY
Pyongyang and Washington have been engaged in an escalating war of words in recent weeks after President Trump’s administration declared the era of “strategic patience” towards North Korea’s military ambitions was over.
US vice president Mike Pence said on Saturday that a strike group led by the US Carl Vinson aircraft carrier would arrive in Korean waters “in a matter of days”.
The ships were heading north in the western Pacific Ocean conducting joint exercises with Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force on Monday.
South Korea's navy said it was conducting a live-fire exercise with US destroyers on Tuesday in waters west of the Korean peninsula, and would soon join the carrier strike group approaching the region.
Mr Trump had previously described the force as an “armada” and said that submarines were being sent which were “far more powerful than the aircraft carrier.”
Concerns have been rising in the region that Mr Trump may be provoked into action if Pyongyang carries out a test of military hardware.
South Korea’s Yonhap agency said the North instead “conducted a massive live-fire artillery training exercise in Wonsan near the demilitarized zone (DMZ)”, referring to the dividing area between the two countries, who officially remain at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty. 
"Hundreds of heavy guns joined it," the report said.
The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement: “Our military is keeping a close eye on the North Korean military's activities in the vicinity of Wonsan and maintaining a steadfast combat posture."
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China, a key trading partner and only diplomatic ally of North Korea, has been seeking to ease tensions.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, called for restraint from all sides in a telephone call with Mr Trump on Monday.
Chinese media on Tuesday reached out to Pyongyang in editorials that urged North Korean leaders not to provoke the US.
The influential Global Times newspaper, which has close links to China’s ruling Communist Party, said: “The North Korea nuclear issue is like a puzzle filled with bombs.
“Pyongyang must not strike a match and detonate it. What it needs is big wisdom to realise a soft landing.”
A national meeting at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Monday in celebration of the 85th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army
A national meeting at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Monday in celebration of the 85th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army CREDIT: REUTERS
“(North Korean leaders) are at once perilously overestimating their own strength and underestimating the hazards they are brewing for themselves.
"They need to reassess the situation so they do not make any misjudgments.”
An AWACS air surveillance plane lifts off from a runway in the southeastern port of Busan, South Korea
An AWACS air surveillance plane lifts off from a runway in the southeastern port of Busan, South Korea CREDIT: EPA
But North Korean media continued its aggressive tone on Tuesday, with the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper expressing pride in the country’s military on the symbolic date.
The North was prepared "to bring to closure the history of US scheming and nuclear blackmail,” it said in a front page editorial.
"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 miniaturized nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles,” it added.

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