Key points
- Submarine will be capable of launching ballistic missiles
- Development rings alarms in Seoul, Washington
- North Korea has between 64 and 86 submarines
ISLAMABAD: North Korea unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the US once ready.
The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, didn’t provide details on the submarine.
However, it was reported that Kim was briefed on its construction.
The state media agency on Saturday released photos showing what it called “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine,” as it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built.
Kim “learned about the building of a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine,” the report said, which was one of Kim’s key military goals on a laundry list of high-tech weaponry unveiled at a previous party congress.
Sea defence capability
The report is likely referring to a nuclear-powered submarine capable of launching ballistic missiles, Yonhap news agency reported, adding this was the first time the nuclear-armed North had revealed construction of a ballistic missile submarine.
Kim said the country’s “sea defence capability… will be fully displayed in any necessary waters without limitation,” KCNA said.
“The development of the naval force into an elite and nuclear-armed force constitutes an important content in the strategy for the development of the national defence,” it added.
In 2023, North Korean state media reported on the launch of the country’s first “tactical nuclear attack submarine” — although the South Korean military said at the time that the vessel might not be operational.
Major fleet
According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US-based think tank, North Korea is estimated to have between 64 and 86 submarines, one of the world’s largest fleets.
However, experts doubt if all of them are operational, given their age, according to NTI.
Ties between Pyongyang and Seoul are at one of their lowest points in years, with the South accusing Kim Jong Un of sending thousands of soldiers to Russia to help Moscow fight Ukraine, violating rafts of sanctions on both countries, AFP news agency reported.
Strategic cruise missiles
Last week, North Korea carried out a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea, in a drill Pyongyang said was aimed at showing off its “counterattack” capabilities.
Joint South Korea-US “Freedom Shield” military exercises are set to begin later this month, and the USS Carl Vinson, the flagship of a carrier strike group, arrived in Busan for a scheduled port visit on Sunday, prompting an angry retort from Pyongyang.
Washington and Seoul describe such exercises as defensive in nature, but Pyongyang claims they are rehearsals for invasion and has responded with weapons tests of its own.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
A threat “absolutely”
Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University, told AP that the use of the term “the strategic guided missiles” meant it would carry nuclear-capable weapons.
The naval vessel appears to be a 6,000-ton-class or 7,000-ton-class one, which can carry about 10 missiles, he said.
“It would be absolutely threatening to us and the US,” Moon said.
US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said that “we’re aware of these claims and do not have additional information to provide at this time.
“The US is committed to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea,” Hughes said.
Possible “Russian assistance”
Moon, the submarine expert, said that North Korea may have received Russian technological assistance to build a nuclear reactor to be used in the submarine in return for supplying conventional weapons and troops to support Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine.
He also said that North Korea could launch the submarine in one or two years to test its capability before its actual deployment.
In 2023, North Korea said that it had launched what it called its first “ tactical nuclear attack submarine,” but foreign experts doubted the North’s announcement and speculated that it was likely a diesel-powered submarine disclosed in 2019, according to AP.
Moon said that there has been no confirmation that it has been deployed.
