SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea made clear progress Thursday in building a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing the hull was nearly complete and leader Kim Jong Un blaming rival South Korea for pushing to acquire the technology.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim Jong-un visited a shipyard to inspect the construction of what North Korea said was an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered submarine, which the North Korean leader had previously said was a key step in modernizing the North’s navy and nuclear armaments. North Korea has said it plans to equip the submarine with nuclear weapons, calling it a “strategic missile submarine” or “strategic nuclear attack submarine.”
During his visit, Kim described South Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines backed by U.S. President Donald Trump as an “offensive act” that seriously violated North Korea’s security and maritime sovereignty.
He said South Korea’s plan further emphasized the need for North Korea’s navy to modernize and nuclear arm, claiming the completion of the nuclear-powered submarine would be an “epochal” change to strengthen North Korea’s nuclear war deterrent against what he said was an enemy’s threat.
The agency did not specify when Kim visited the shipyard, but released photos showing him inspecting a massive burgundy ship covered in what appeared to be anti-corrosion paint being built in an assembly hall with senior officials and his daughter. This is the first time North Korean state media has released images of the submarine since March, when the images mainly showed the lower part of the submarine.
It’s unclear how close North Korea is to completing the ship. But Moon Geun-sik, a submarine expert at Hanyang University in Seoul, said that because submarines are usually built from the inside out, the release of what appears to be a largely completed hull shows that many core components, including engines and possibly a reactor, are already in place.
Moon Jae-in, a former submarine officer of the South Korean Navy, said, “Displaying the entire ship now seems to indicate that most of the equipment has been installed and will be launched soon.” He believes that the North Korean submarine may undergo sea testing within a few months.
Kim Jong Un announced a wish list of advanced weapons, one of which is a nuclear-powered submarine, at a major political meeting in 2021 to deal with what he called a growing U.S.-led military threat. Other weapons include solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multiple warhead missiles. North Korea has since conducted a series of testing campaigns to acquire them.
If North Korea acquires a greater ability to launch missiles from underwater, it would be a worrying development because such launches would be difficult to detect in advance. But there have been questions about whether North Korea, an impoverished country under severe sanctions, can obtain the resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Some experts say North Korea’s recent alliance with Russia – which includes sending thousands of troops and military equipment to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine – could help it receive technical assistance in return.
While some analysts suspect North Korea may seek a reactor from Russia, possibly from a decommissioned Russian submarine, Moon said it was more likely that North Korea would design its own reactor while possibly receiving some technical assistance from Russia.
At a November summit with Trump, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called on the United States to support South Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines while reaffirming its commitment to increase defense spending to reduce the burden on the United States.
Trump later said the United States was willing to share closed technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, but it was unclear when and where the ship would be built or how Seoul would obtain the needed nuclear fuel and reactor technology.
KCNA said in a separate report that Kim Jong Un on Wednesday oversaw the test of a new long-range anti-aircraft missile that was launched into the sea east of North Korea. South Korea’s Defense Ministry had no immediate comment on the launch.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim Jong Un accelerates his military nuclear program and deepens his alliance with Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His administration has repeatedly rejected calls from Washington and Seoul to restart talks aimed at ending its nuclear and missile programs, which were derailed in 2019 after summits with Trump collapsed during the U.S. president’s first term.
