In a lavish ceremony, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unveiled his country’s new submarine, described as the first capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
State media claimed that the submarine strengthens the nation’s nuclear weapons capabilities by “leaps and bounds.”
He was baptized as Hero Kim Kun Okin honor of a historic North Korean naval officer.
Owning a submarine capable of firing nuclear weapons has long been on the reclusive Asian nation’s war-target list.
In photos released by state media, Kim was seen standing in a shipyard, surrounded by naval officers and dwarfed by the massive black submarine. He was quoted as saying that it will be one of the North Korean navy’s main means of “underwater offensive.”
“The nuclear attack submarine (…) now symbolizes our threatening power that strikes fear into our unscrupulous enemies“he declared.
But there is skepticism about whether it really is a submarine with the offensive characteristics that Pyongyang claims.
The fact that, according to experts, it is a modified Soviet submarine, manufactured during the Cold War period, led some to call it a “Frankenstein submarine.”
What is known about this submarine?
Asian and Western military analysts point out that what Pyongyang showed to the world is a Soviet-era Romeo-class submarinewhich had already been seen in propaganda in 2019 in an inspection of Kim Jong-un.
The question is whether it has been sufficiently modified to add the capacity to carry nuclear weapons. From what has been shown so far, there is no certainty that it has operational capacity, since It was only seen in a shipyard and there were no images showing it sailing or successfully launching nuclear-capable missiles.
“As a platform, it will have some fundamental limitations and vulnerabilities,” Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, explained to the BBC.
The fact that the stern and propellers of the submarine were blurred in the images broadcast by state media may be a maneuver to hide the fact that it is an old submarine.
Other potential limitations are that it may be noisy, slow and have a limited rangeVann Van Diepen, a US government weapons expert, told the Reuters news agency.
If North Korea were to put it into operation, the noise of its combined diesel-electric engine would make it detectable quickly by South Korea, Japan and the United States, according to Tyler Rogoway, a columnist for the site specialized in military affairs. The Drive.
“As for the submarine’s capabilities, its missile warehouse, which extends aft of the sail, clearly presents five doors on each side, for a total of ten compartments. The four front ones are larger than the six rear ones,” explained Rogoway, who calls the ship the “Frankensub” because of the obvious modifications on display.
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“This makes sense, as the ship is designed to carry multiple types of missiles, specifically a combination of short-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and short-range submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM)”.
Expert Yang Uk, from the Asan Institute of Political Studies in Seoul, agrees with this analysis, who told the newspaper The New York Times that the launch pad is “abnormally large” for its size, “as if North Korea wanted to show off nuclear force.”
This structure, he added, “will limit the stealth and maneuverability of the submarine.”
But the North Korean Navy does have dozens of smaller submarines that, although they are not nuclear, as a whole They have an attack capacity that should not be overlooked, experts warn.
“The very existence of such a capability would be seen as another important step for North Korea in its rampant nuclear weapons development adventure. Their raids could also tie up important anti-submarine resources of South Korea, the United States and Japan,” he maintains.
“Most serious threat”
South Korea questioned the capabilities of the submarinepointing out that its neighbor to the north may have exaggerated them.
Japan expressed concern. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said North Korea’s military activity “represents a more serious and imminent threat than what existed in the past for the security of our country.”
USA docked a nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine in South Korea in July, the first time it has made such a move in four decades.
The presentation of the North Korean submarine occurs days before the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea. Chinese state media has said there will be a delegation from Beijing at the celebrations.
It also precedes reports that Kim plans to travel to Russia this month to meet with President Vladimir Putin.
Analysts believe that North Korea could request advanced weapons technology from Moscow at this meeting.
*With information from Jean Mackenzie (Seoul) and Kathryn Armstrong (London)
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See original article on BBC