SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea unveils its first nuclear submarine submarine under construction, a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the US
State media on Saturday released a photo showing what was called a “nuclearly driven strategically guided missile submarine.”
South Korea's Central News Agency, or KCNA, did not provide details about the submarine, but Kim said she was briefed on its construction.
In this outdated photo provided by the North Korean government on March 8, 2025, North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun visits a shipyard in the center and builds a warship in a private location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the events depicted in this image, distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. The Korean watermark in the images provided by Source is “KCNA,” an abbreviation for the Korean Central Communications Agency. (Korea Central News Service via the Associated Press/Korea News Service) (Korea Central News Service via the Associated Press/Korea News Service)
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The naval vessel appears to be a 6,000-ton or 7,000-ton class vessel that can carry around 10 missiles, said Moon Kyung-sik, a Korean submarine expert who teaches at the future university in Seoul. He said the use of the term “strategically guided missile” means it carries a weapon that corresponds to a nuclear weapon.
“It would absolutely threaten us and the United States,” Moon said.
The nuclear-powered submarine was one of the long hopes of sophisticated weapons he vowed to showcase at a major political conference in 2021 to address what escalates the US-led military threat. Other weapons were solid intercontinental ballistic missiles, polar weapons, spy satellites and multifaceted missiles. North Korea then conducted a series of test activities to obtain them.
North Korea gains greater capacity to launch missiles from underwater is a worrying development as it is difficult for rivals to detect such launches in advance.
Questions have emerged about how North Korea, a highly licensed and poor country, will gain the resources and technology to build nuclear submarines.
Submarine expert Moon said North Korea may have received Russian technical assistance to build nuclear reactors used for submarines in exchange for traditional weapons and military supplies to support Russia's war effort against Ukraine.
In this outdated photo provided by the North Korean government on March 8, 2025, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the shipyard to build a warship in a private location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the events depicted in this image, distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korea Central News Service via the Associated Press/Korea News Service) (Korea Central News Service via the Associated Press/Korea News Service)
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He also said North Korea could launch a submarine in a year or two to test its capabilities before it actually deployed.
North Korea has an estimated 70-90 diesel-powered submarines in one of the world's largest fleets. However, they are mostly aged, capable of firing only torpedoes and mines, not missiles.
In 2023, North Korea said it had launched what it called the first “tactical nuclear attack submarine,” but foreign experts suspected the North's announcement and speculated it in 2019 as a diesel-powered submarine. Moon said there was no confirmation that it was unfolding.
North Korea has been conducting numerous thrus of underwater launch ballistic missile tests since 2016, but all launches were made from the same 2,000 ton class submarines with a single launch tube. Many experts call it a test platform, not an aggressive service operational submarine.
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Recently, North Korea has dialed fiery rhetoric against the US and South Korea ahead of its upcoming annual military training, which will begin on Monday.
During a visit to the shipyard, Kim said North Korea aims to modernize the surface and underwater warships at the same time. He emphasized that “an unparalleled overwhelming warships will fulfill their mission” in order to contain “their eager gunboat diplomacy of hostile troops,” Kcna reported.
