On Friday, North Korea launched its first active “tactical nuclear attack submarine” and allocated it to the fleet that patrols the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan, state media reported.
KCNA news agency said that Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, who attended the takeoff ceremony on Wednesday, said arming the navy with nuclear weapons was a necessary task and pledged to move more underwater and surface vessels equipped with tactical nuclear weapons to the naval forces, news agency KCNA said.
The ceremony of submarine-launching indicated the start of a new chapter for strengthening the naval force of the DPRK, KCNA said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim said that Submarine No. 841, named after a North Korean historical figure Hero Kim Kun Ok, will conduct its combat mission as “one of the core underwater offensive means of the naval force.
Reviewers first spotted signs that at least one new submarine was being created in 2016, and in 2019 state media revealed Kim reviewing a previously unreported submarine that was created under “his particular attention” and that would be working in the waters off the east coast.
State media at the moment did not explain the submarine’s weapons systems or say where and when the review took place, but reviewers said the clear size of the new vessel pointed it was built to hold missiles.
It was not immediately clear what missiles the new submarine would be armed with.
Pyongyang has test-fired several long-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), as well as short-range SLBMs and cruise missiles that can be fired from submarines.
It is also undefined whether North Korea has built the miniaturized nuclear warheads required to equip such missiles. Reviewers say that perfecting smaller warheads would most likely be a key goal if the North resumes nuclear testing.
North Korea has a gigantic submarine fleet but only the testing ballistic missile submarine 8.24 Yongung (August 24th Hero) is known to have launched a missile.
Tal Inbar, a senior research associate at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the submarine’s huge sail seemed to have space for both ballistic and cruise missiles.
