North Korea Claims To Launch Tactical Nuclear Attack Submarine: Praised By Kim Jong-un, Foreign Observers Doubtful

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the launch of the new submarine. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - Observers and experts from various circles doubt North Korea's new defense equipment which is claimed to be a tactical nuclear attack submarine, although it was praised by Pyongyang Leader Kim Jong-un.

Named 'Hero Kim Kun Ok' with hull number 841, the ship's launch took place lively, attended by Kim Jong-un on Wednesday, according to state news agency KCNA.

Leader Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA as saying, "the ship is equipped with a large number of nuclear means of delivery capable of carrying out preventive and retaliatory attacks against hostile countries".

In addition, Leader Kim is also said to have asked the country to convert all medium-sized submarines into nuclear-capable versions.

"It is necessary to provide a greater impetus on the construction of nuclear-powered submarines, to strengthen and develop our naval force into world-class maritime forces," Leader Kim said, citing CNN from KCNA September 8.

The launch ceremony comes as North Korea will mark the 75th anniversary of the country's founding on Saturday, following a report Leader Kim plans to travel to Russia this month to meet with President Vladimir Putin to discuss arms supplies to Moscow.

However, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) ridiculed the claim in a statement on Friday, saying the new submarine appeared "unable to operate normally", and warned there were signs that North Korea was trying to overestimate its capabilities.

Apart from Seoul, Western experts also expressed their doubts, both regarding its missile potential and whether North Korea would be able to build more than one such ship.

US analysts believe the submarine, which was first revealed to be under construction four years ago, is conventionally powerful but may be capable of launching a nuclear warhead ballistic missile.

Meanwhile, an expert on the HI submarine, who wrote on the Naval News website, the new ship appears to be based on a Romeo-class submarine designed by the Soviet Union.

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, North Korea already has 20 electric diesel-powered Romeo-class submarines in its fleet, which are estimated to number 64 to 86 submarines.

Analysts say the ship appears to be a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea obtained from China in the 1970s and is starting to be produced domestically. Its design, with 10 launch tube holes, shows the aircraft is likely armed with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, analysts say.

North Korea has tested the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) nine times since 2015, the last in 2022, according to North Korea's Missile Test Database of the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies James Martin (CNS).

However, another analyst said it was still unclear whether the new submarine was capable of launching SLBM. Others are even more skeptical.

Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center said the newly launched submarine may still take two years to fully operational.

He said the installation and testing of the submarine's engines and internal components would take about 18 months, then there would be sea trials and training for six months.

Even if and when the submarine was fully operational, there were some who doubted the effectiveness of the missile launched from the Pyongyang submarine.

" Pyongyang land-based missiles, which are much more cost-effective than power (ballistic missile submarines), will most likely remain the mainstay of its nuclear forces and missiles," wrote Vann Van Diepen, a former US government official who handled the issue of weapons of mass destruction on website 38 North in July.

It is known, all US Navy submarines, both attack and ballistic missiles, are nuclear-powered. Russia, China, Britain, France and India also operate nuclear-powered submarines.