North Korea has revealed what it claims to be its first nuclear-powered submarine that will be capable of launching surface-to-air missiles.
Kim Jong Un was pictured touring the 8,700-tonne (8,700,000kg) vessel with his suspected heir, his 12-year-old daughter, on Thursday.
The submarine’s hull appeared to be largely complete, signalling it could be sent out to sea within months.
Experts predict it could be less than two years before North Korea can conduct missile tests with the underwater ship.
Moon Geun-sik, a former submarine officer and academic at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said: ‘Showing the entire vessel now seems to indicate that most of the equipment has already been installed and it is just about ready to be launched into the water.’
The submarines are as large as most of the nuclear-powered Virgina-class attack subs in the US fleet.
They would also rival the four Vanguard-class submarines in the Royal Navy’s arsenal, which possess ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.
Russia, China, France, and India are the only other countries which have nuclear-powered subs.
Compared to their conventional counterparts, they are faster, quieter and can stay submerged underwater for years.
Kim, 41, called the construction an ‘epoch-making change’ in the nuclear arms race against ‘enemy threats’.
The dictator has ramped up efforts to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine after South Korea received permission from the Trump administration to pursue one of its own.
The despot said the move was an ‘offensive act’ which he claimed ‘gravely infringes’ on North Korea’s security.
He said the rush to develop their own nuclear-powered sub would be the ‘best shield for national security in developing the armed forces,’ according to regime-backed Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
On Wednesday, North Korea fired a long-range surface-to-air missile over the East Sea shared with Japan.
The test, reportedly overseen by Kim, supposedly destroyed targets from a distance of 120 miles (200km) away, KCNA said.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff confirmed the missile test occurred at 5pm.
Kim has overseen a large buildup in the country’s armed forces as part of a five-year plan announced in 2021.
It has not all gone smoothly, however, when a new naval destroyer capsized during a water launch in May.
The dictator blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for a ‘serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism’.
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Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul pointed the blame at Pyongyang for the heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
He told CNN: [Kim] is probably right that a build-up of nuclear-powered submarines will increase instability around the Korean Peninsula, but he has himself to blame for the arms race.
‘It is Pyongyang that disavows diplomacy with Seoul, threatens its neighbours with nuclear weapons, and deepens the suffering of its own people by devoting massive resources to military dictatorship rather than economic development.’
KCNA also revealed that Kim receive a message from Vladimir Putin on December 18.
The Russian leader hailed the ‘heroic’ role played by North Korean soliders in the war in Ukraine, saying it ‘clearly proved the invincible friendship’ between the two countries.
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