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North Korea is pushing ahead with the construction of its first domestically developed ballistic missile submarine, even though the vessel is expected to be vastly technologically inferior to its rivals in the region and should be relatively easy to track and — should a imminent threat be perceived —neutralize, analysts say.
Despite that huge drawback, the millions that are being invested in the project make perfect geo-political sense to the regime of Kim Jong Un, they add.
Progress on the North Korean project has been detected by images from commercial satellites that have been analyzed by experts at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and published on the 38 North website. In the most recently available images of the Sinpo South Shipyard, taken earlier this month, the analysts point to sections of what appear to be the pressure hull of a submarine alongside construction halls at the yard, which has undergone extensive modernization work in the last 18 months, including the addition of a fabrication plant and a roof to a construction hall alongside a slipway.
The analysts suggest the new vessel will be the first 3,000-ton Sinpo-C class ballistic missile submarine, which is designed to sortie into the Pacific Ocean and remain undetected but able to launch its nuclear-tipped missiles when ordered to do so. Satellite images provide further evidence about the project, including what appears to be a launch canister that may be awaiting fitting into the submarine or may be used for tests.
North Korea has conducted a number of test launches of missiles from either its existing missile-capable boats — which are converted Soviet-era Golf-II vessels that were ostensibly purchased for scrap but have since been reconditioned and returned to service — or from a submersible barge.
It is not clear where North Korea has obtained its ability to create a new class of submarine designed to launch ballistic missiles, but given that the United States has been operating submarines since the Civil War and other nations in the region, notably Japan and South Korea, have developed state-of-the-art capabilities for their underwater fleets, it is unlikely that the North Korean vessel will pose a huge threat.
"It is difficult to fully comprehend what North Korea is trying to do in the long-term, in large part because no-one is talking to them at the moment," said Garren Mulloy, an associate professor of international relations at Japan's Daito Bunka University.
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"We can surmise that they want to be regarded as a great power and to get preferential treatment from the international community, but in the shorter term, they appear to be trying to show that they have the capability to be a significant military power and, potentially, a threat to other countries," he told Deutsche Welle.
This article originally appeared on DW.com. Its content is separate from USA TODAY.
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