A massive fire has reportedly ripped through a warehouse at a United States military base in South Korea.
The blaze broke out at 6:31 p.m. KST on Thursday at the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Busan base, according to The Korea Times.
Video shows a giant plume of black smoke rising from the enormous flames as it burns through the building.
‘U.S. Army Garrison Daegu has activated mutual aid agreements with the Busan Fire Dept. in response to a warehouse fire of unknown origin at the Busan Storage Center,’ the USFK said.
‘The warehouse is under renovation and empty, and was not occupied when the fire broke out.’
USAG Daegu Public Affairs Officer Phil Molter told DailyMail.com the blaze is fully contained and they are putting out small spot fires.
Over 160 personnel and 51 pieces of fire equipment were enlisted to put out the fire.
Busan fire officials raised their response to a Level 2 at 7:55 p.m. KST which allowed them to get aide from up to 11 nearby fire stations.
The USFK was established to help deter aggression in Northeast Asia and defend South Korea.
Tensions with North Korea are at their highest point in years, with the pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs intensifying, despite heavy international sanctions.
South Korea’s military said the USS Vermont, a nuclear-powered and fast-attack submarine, arrived at the southeastern South Korean port city of Busan on September 23 to take on supplies and allow its crew to rest.
Pictured: The USS Vermont, a nuclear-powered and fast-attack submarine, enters a naval base in Busan, South Korea on September 23
Kim Jong Un’s sister vowed to boost the country’s nuclear war capability and take other steps to protest the ships arrival.
In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong said that the submarine’s visit ‘clearly reveals the frantic military and strategic attempt of the U.S.’ She said North Korea’s nuclear war deterrent must be bolstered ‘both in quality and quantity continuously and limitlessly’ in response.
‘The U.S. strategic assets will never find their resting place in the region of the Korean Peninsula,’ she said. ‘We will continue to inform that all the ports and military bases of the ROK are not safe places.’ ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea´s formal name.
In June, the US, Japan and South Korea conducted a three-day multidomain exercise in the East China Sea.
North Korea slammed the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group in the port of Busan – home to South Korea’s navy headquarters and its Gimhae Air Base – in preparation for the exercise as ‘provocative’ and ‘dangerous.’