North Korea yesterday said that its new submarine has nuclear attack capabilities it has been developing for years, a step leader Kim Jong-un described as crucial in his efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy to counter the US and its Asian allies.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the vessel, named Hero Kim Kun-ok, is designed to launch tactical nuclear weapons from underwater, but did not specify the number of missiles it could carry and fire.
South Korean officials were skeptical that the submarine would work as North Korea described and said it likely was not ready for operational duty. Still, the vessel’s development underscored how North Korea continues to potentially extend the range of its nuclear arsenal with systems that are harder to detect in advance.
Photo: AFP / KCNA VIA KNS
Based on Kim Jong-un’s comments and photogrpahs by North Korean state media, it is likely the submarine is the same one Kim inspected in 2019 while it was under construction. At the time, experts assessed it as an effort to convert an existing Romeo-class submarine.
The submarine appears to have at least 10 launch tubes — four of them apparently larger than the other six — that are possibly designed for missiles.
“This submarine, though heavily modified, is based on 1950s Soviet-origin technology and will have inherent limitations. Nevertheless, in terms of complicating the targeting challenges that the US and its allies will face, the submarine will serve North Korea’s purposes,” said Ankit Panda, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
North Korea has tested a variety of missiles designed to be fired from submarines as it pursues the ability to conduct nuclear strikes from underwater. In theory, such capacity would bolster its deterrent by ensuring a survivable capability to retaliate after absorbing a nuclear attack on land.
Ballistic missile submarines would also add a maritime threat to North Korea’s growing collection of solid-fuel weapons fired from land vehicles that are designed to overwhelm missile defenses in South Korea and Japan.
However, it would take considerable time, resources and technological improvements for the heavily sanctioned nation to build a fleet of at least several submarines that could travel quietly and execute attacks reliably, analysts said.
In speeches at the vessel’s launch ceremony on Wednesday and an onboard inspection on Thursday at a military shipyard, Kim Jong-un expressed satisfaction that North Korea has acquired its own nuclear attack submarine to counter the advanced assets of the US, KCNA said.
The US in July docked a nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine in South Korea for the first time since the 1980s.
Kim Jong-un said the nation is also pursuing a nuclear-propelled submarine, and plans to remodel its existing submarines and surface vessels so they can handle nuclear weapons, describing the building of a nuclear-capable army as an “urgent task.”
South Korea’s military said that North Korea was exaggerating the submarine’s capabilities.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea would have needed to increase the size of the bridge and other parts of the original vessel to accommodate missile launch systems, but that the appearance of the new submarine suggested that it could “not be operated normally.”
“There are signs of deception or exaggeration,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without elaborating.
Kim Jong-un has been emphasizing the need to strengthen the nation’s navy. Some analysts say the focus could be driven by a desire to expand military cooperation with Russia, which has suggested the possibility of combined military exercises.
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