North Korea has been trying to enhance its military capabilities as it seeks to counter the US-South Korea alliance in the Korean Peninsula.
In an alarming signal to the US and South Korea, North Korea has, for the first time, unveiled a nuclear-powered submarine under construction. The North Korean state media on Saturday released photos, which it claimed showed “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine.”
While the Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, didn’t provide details on the submarine, it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built. It added that Kim was briefed on its construction.
North Korean submarine can carry almost 10 missiles: South Korean expert
The naval vessel reported by the North Korean media appears to be a 6,000-ton-class or 7,000-ton-class one, which can carry almost 10 missiles, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University said. “It would be absolutely threatening to us and the US,” Moon added.
Notably, a nuclear-powered submarine was among a long list of sophisticated weaponry that Kim vowed to introduce during a major political conference in 2021 to cope with what he called escalating US-led military threats. The recent development, which takes North Korea closer to having a greater ability to fire missiles from underwater, is worrying because it’s difficult for its rivals to detect such launches in advance.
How can sanctioned North Korea get resources and technology?
Questions have surfaced about how a heavily sanctioned and impoverished country, North Korea, could get resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.
North Korea already has one of the world’s largest fleets, with an estimated 70-90 diesel-powered submarines in its navy. North Korea has conducted a slew of underwater-launched ballistic missile tests since 2016, but all launches were made from the same 2,000-ton-class submarine, which has a single launch tube.
Here’s what Kim said
During his visits to the shipyards, Kim said North Korea aims to modernise water-surface and underwater warships simultaneously. He stressed the need to make “the incomparably overwhelming warships fulfil their mission” to contain “the inveterate gunboat diplomacy of the hostile forces,” KCNA reported Saturday.
(With inputs from AP)
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