(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has held a ceremony to reveal a new submarine, which Pyongyang claims can launch nuclear weapons.
State media said the submarine strengthened the country’s nuclear deterrent by “leaps and bounds”.
It has been named Hero Kim Kun Ok after a North Korean naval officer and historical figure.
A nuclear-attack submarine has long been on the list of weapons North Korea wants to build.
In photographs released by state media, Mr Kim is seen standing in a shipyard, surrounded by naval officers, and overshadowed by an enormous black submarine.
He is quoted as saying that the sub will be one of the navy’s main means of “underwater offensive.”
But there is some scepticism about how effective it will be.
Analysts believe it is a Soviet-era Romeo-class sub – the same that Mr Kim inspected in 2019 – but has been modified to carry nuclear weapons.
“As a platform, it will have some fundamental limitations and vulnerabilities,” said Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
These include being noisy, slow and having limited range, according to Vann Van Diepen, a former US government weapons expert, who spoke to Reuters news agency.
