Analysts said the vessel appears to be a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s and began producing domestically. North Korea plans to turn other existing submarines into nuclear armed vessels, and accelerate its push to eventually build nuclear-powered submarines, Kim said. North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the submarine launch drew condemnation from South Korea and Japan. North Korea has test-fired both SLBMs and SLCMs. North Korea has a large submarine fleet but only the experimental ballistic missile submarine 8.24 Yongung (24 August Hero) is known to have fired a missile.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 08, 2023 05:15 UTC