North Korea’s state media on Saturday provided a rare glimpse of the country’s first nuclear-powered guided missile submarine that is expected to serve as a “powerful nuclear deterrent” in the future.
The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, released a set of images taken during a recent inspection tour by leader Kim Jong Un to North Korea’s key shipyards, including one where the first nuclear submarine is being built.
In two photos, the leader and his entourage were seen next to the large body of a vessel, believed to have been taken at a submarine facility in the port city of Sinpo on the east coast.
KCNA quoted Kim saying that “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 defense.”
Pyongyang has a fleet of around 70 aging submarines, most of them are classified as “midget” for their small size.
In September 2023 it launched the first so-called “tactical nuclear attack submarine,” a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s.
Despite the name, it is not nuclear-powered but fitted with diesel-electric propulsion, relatively noisy and slow, hence vulnerable to modern anti-submarine warfare. The “nuclear” component refers to the possibility of nuclear missile armament yet analysts have raised doubt about its capabilities.
The KCNA report didn’t say when the construction of the new submarine would be completed.
North Korea’s largest warships
Kim Jong Un also visited some other shipyards where North Korea’s largest warships are being constructed.
“Only when there is a powerful naval force that no one can provoke, is it possible to defend the security of the country,” he said.
Pyongyang is believed to be building two new warships with displacement of 3,000 to 5,000 tons at Nampo shipyard on the west coast and Chongjin on the east coast.
Several of KCNA’s photos show the North Korean leader inspecting the upper structure of a ship, likely at the Nampo shipyard, with details of the deck being blurred.
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North Korea has a substantial surface fleet in numbers but it is predominantly composed of smaller patrol and coastal vessels of limited capability.
The two ships under-construction are expected to be fitted with a vertical launch system for missiles, a first for a North Korean surface vessel. A report by the British think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that such a ship could be carrying ballistic or surface-to-air missiles yet their capabilities remain to be seen.
The North Korean shipyards’ ability to replicate the performance of the world’s latest combat systems and other associated capabilities is deemed by the report as being “limited.”
Edited by Mike Firn.