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North Korea
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Is North Korea’s nuclear submarine a game changer or ‘vanity project’?

North Korea’s first SSBN is likely to lag far behind its US and South Korean submarine rivals, analysts say

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a shipbuilding project at a shipyard at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Photo: AFP
Julian Ryall
North Korea’s development of what the country claims is its first nuclear-powered submarine – with the potential to fire Pukguksong-6 missiles 12,000km to hit targets as far away as the continental United States – is seen as a “vanity project” rather than a sign of its enhanced naval capabilities.
Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was seen standing beside a submarine under construction at an undisclosed shipyard in North Korea, with state-run media reporting that he was admiring the country’s first “nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine”.
Analysts told This Week in Asia that the unnamed North Korean submarine was likely several generations behind its rival counterparts in the US, Japan and South Korea and would fall short in the event of a conflict breaking out.

They noted that the North Korean military was still fielding weapons systems considered obsolete elsewhere, including the Romeo-class submarines that were originally operated by the Soviet Union in 1957, and MiG-15 fighters that first flew in 1947.

“The current developments indicate that North Korea does not yet have sufficient capabilities to develop SSBNs [submarines designed to launch ballistic missiles],” said Dongkeun Lee, a South Korean academic at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at The Australian National University in Canberra.

The latest submarine was likely a case of Pyongyang’s hubris given that the regime “struggled to build” its last major submarine, the Hero Kim Kun Ok, Lee said.

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