South Korean officials were skeptical that the submarine would work as North Korea described and said it likely wasn’t ready for operational duty.
Still, the vessel’s development underscored how the North continues to potentially extend the range of its nuclear arsenal with systems that are harder to detect in advance.Based on Kim Jong Un’s comments and photos by North Korean state media, it’s 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.
Ballistic missile submarines would also add a maritime threat to the North’s growing collection of solid-fuel weapons fired from land vehicles that are designed to overwhelm missile defenses in South Korea and Japan. The submarine still appeared to be at port Friday morning, according to other images taken by Planet. The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies first identified the submarine’s location.
Kim in recent weeks has been emphasizing the need to strengthen the country’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 between the countries. North Korea had two failed satellite launches in 2023, but vowed to conduct a third. It wasn’t immediately clear if the activity at Sohae, about 120 kilometers northwest of Pyongyang, was related to the satellite program.
Kim insisted that the submarine revealed this week would be just as daunting to his enemies as the nuclear-propelled submarine North Korea plans to acquire in the future.
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