North Korea revealed Saturday it is building a nuclear-powered submarine — a weapon that experts say would be “absolutely threatening to [South Korea] and the US.”
Images showed Kim Jong Un touring a navy shipyard to see the massive warship, which state media called “a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine” — and may have been built with Russian assistance.
The vessel appears to be up to 7,000-tons and can carry about 10 missiles as well as nuclear-capable weapons, Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University, told the Associated Press.
“It would be absolutely threatening to us and the US,” he said.
Moon estimates the submarine could be launched on a test run in a year or two before its actual deployment.
During his visits, Kim stressed that North Korea needs to make “the incomparably overwhelming warships fulfill their mission” to contain “the inveterate gunboat diplomacy of the hostile forces,” according to state media.
North Korea has long vied for nuclear-powered submarines, which would allow it to fire missiles from underwater.
Advanced detection of the weapons is difficult, making the country’s construction of the warships worrisome.
How the heavily-sanctioned country, which uses old diesel-powered Soviet submarines, acquired the resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines is a mystery, but Moon theorized it may have received help from Russia.
Russia may have offered technological assistance to build a nuclear reactor in return for North Korea supplying weapons and troops in the ongoing war against Ukraine, Moon said.
North Korea in recent days has been ramping up its anti-US rhetoric — and vowed to bolster its nuclear weapons program — ahead of the US and South Korea’s annual military drills set Monday.
President Trump has repeatedly said he would reach out to Kim to revive their relationship, but North Korea claims the hostilities between the two nations has deepened in recent months.