Kim Jong-un inspects new sub, wants North Korean military bolstered

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Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a recently built submarine, indicating a potential continuation of a submarine-launched ballistic missile programme amid stalled dialogue with the US.

North Korean state media KCNA on Tuesday showed Kim inspecting the submarine, and said its operational deployment in the waters of Sea of Japan (called the East Sea on the Korean Peninsula) is “near”.

Kim learned about its operational and tactical data and combat weapons system after the submarine was built under his “special attention”.

“He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the submarine was designed and built to be capable of fully implementing the military strategic intention of the Party under various circumstances.”

The images show the submarine in a covered dry dock facility, but neither the date of Kim’s visit nor the location of the vessel were disclosed by the state media.

Experts indicated that the location could be the Sinpo South Shipyard and the submarine could be an updated version of the Sinpo-C class.