North Korea launches new tactical nuclear attack submarine, state media reports
- The vessel has been assigned to the fleet that patrols the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who attended the launch, said arming the navy with nuclear weapons was an urgent task
“The submarine-launching ceremony heralded the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK,” KCNA said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Submarine No 841 – named Hero Kim Kun-ok after a North Korean historical figure – will perform its combat mission as “one of core underwater offensive means of the naval force” of North Korea, Kim said.
North Korea plans to turn its existing submarines into nuclear weapon-armed attack submarines, and accelerate its push to build nuclear-powered submarines, Kim said.
“Achieving a rapid development of our naval forces … is a priority that cannot be delayed given … the enemies’ recent aggressive moves and military acts,” the North Korean leader said in a speech, apparently referring to the United States and South Korea.
Analysts said the vessel appears to be a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s and began producing domestically. Its design, with 10 launch tube hatches, showed it was most likely armed with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
There were signs that at least one new submarine was being built in 2016, according to analysts, and in 2019 state media showed Kim inspecting a previously unreported submarine that was built under “his special attention” and that would be operational in the waters off the east coast.
State media at the time did not describe the submarine’s weapons systems or say where and when the inspection took place, but analysts said the apparent size of the new vessel indicated it was designed to carry missiles.
South Korea’s military insisted North Korea was exaggerating the submarine’s capabilities. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North 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 Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without elaborating.
It was not immediately clear what missiles the new submarine would be armed with. North Korea has test fired a number of long-range submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), as well as short-range SLBMs and cruise missiles that can be fired from submarines.
It is also unclear whether North Korea has fully developed the miniaturised nuclear warheads needed to fit on such missiles. Analysts say that perfecting smaller warheads would most likely be a key goal if the North resumes nuclear testing.
North Korea has a large submarine fleet but only the experimental ballistic missile submarine 8.24 Yongung (August 24th Hero) is known to have launched a missile.
Tal Inbar, a senior research fellow at the Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance, said the submarine’s huge sail appeared to have room for both ballistic and cruise missiles.
“It won’t be long before we will see it launch missiles,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
