On this undated picture supplied Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean authorities, its chief Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear-powered submarine underneath development at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Unbiased journalists weren’t given entry to cowl the occasion depicted on this picture distributed by the North Korean authorities. The content material of this picture is as supplied and can’t be independently verified. Korean language watermark on picture as supplied by supply reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central Information Company.
AP/KCNA through KNS
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AP/KCNA through KNS
SEOUL, South Korea — An arms race for nuclear-powered submarines is accelerating between North and South Korea amid shifts in america’ safety technique within the area.
North Korea’s state media revealed on Thursday an image of what it referred to as a “8,700-ton nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine.” It is the primary time North Korea disclosed the tonnage and the apparently accomplished hull of the submarine because it declared its pursuit for nuclear subs in 2021.
North Korean chief Kim Jong Un mentioned that the brand new vessel will assist defend his nation towards “the negative security situation that has come as present reality,” in keeping with the nation’s state media. Kim criticized South Korea’s plan to construct its personal nuclear subs as “an offensive act … that must be countered.”
South Korea has moved rapidly to construct its personal nuclear subs, since receiving President Trump’s approval in October. A pan-government process power launched final week in Seoul, whereas the nation’s nationwide safety adviser Wi Sung-lac mentioned South Korea will work on a pact for the U.S. to produce it with military-use nuclear gasoline.
The inexperienced mild for South Korea’s underwater ambitions got here because the U.S. pushes its allies to shoulder extra of their very own safety burden and spend extra to beef up protection capabilities.
South Korea has sought to construct nuclear subs for many years towards North Korea’s nuclear threats, which rapidly expanded to the maritime sphere in recent times. Along with making the nuclear-powered submarine, it has examined submarine-launched nuclear missiles and claimed to have developed a nuclear-capable torpedo.
South Korea’s protection minister, Ahn Gyu-back, mentioned in October that typical, diesel-powered subs “can’t compete with nuclear subs North Korea is building in underwater endurance and speed.”
U.S. expects subs to assist counter China
The U.S. expects future South Korean nuclear subs to do extra within the area than countering North Korea. Admiral Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations of the U.S. Navy, mentioned throughout his go to in Seoul in November that it is “a natural expectation” that they be used “to meet our combined goals on what the United States considers to be our pacing threat, which is China.”
On this undated picture supplied Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, by the North Korean authorities, its chief Kim Jong Un, third left, visits a shipyard as he inspects a nuclear-powered submarine underneath development at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Unbiased journalists weren’t given entry to cowl the occasion depicted on this picture distributed by the North Korean authorities. The content material of this picture is as supplied and can’t be independently verified. Korean language watermark on picture as supplied by supply reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central Information Company. (Korean Central Information Company/Korea Information Service through AP)
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AP/KCNA through KNS
South Korea President Lee Jae Myung appeared to make a nod to that expectation, with a uncommon point out of China throughout his October summit with Trump. “The limited underwater range of diesel submarines restricts our ability to track subs on the North Korean or Chinese side,” he mentioned.
Yoon Sukjoon, a retired South Korean navy captain, tells NPR that it is a “given” that South Korean nuclear subs will function in a wider underwater area past the Korean Peninsula.
Yoon says the waters across the peninsula are too shallow for submarine operations. “But if the South Korean Navy expands its nuclear submarine operations to China,” he says, “it can contribute some strategic deterrence against the Chinese Navy’s threats in the Indo-Pacific.”
However South Korea has been cautious of suggesting army confrontation with China — its largest buying and selling associate, as China additionally quickly expands its navy. President Lee’s workplace later mentioned that his remarks to Trump “simply referred to submarines near our waters toward the direction of the North and China,” not vessels belonging to sure international locations.
The federal government’s cautious stance displays the perspective of the South Korean public, of whom a majority says South Korea should stay impartial ought to a critical battle erupt between the U.S. and China, in keeping with a latest survey.
“Entry point toward a much bigger goal”
However South Korea — and Japan, which has signaled willingness to develop nuclear-powered submarines — can also be involved about China’s rising sphere of affect and doesn’t need to fall underneath it, says Kim Heungkyu, a political scientist and director of the China Coverage Institute at Ajou College.
Because the U.S. shifts its protection focus nearer to residence, he says, its allies are rising more and more distrustful of its safety dedication in Asia.
In a ballot by the personal suppose tank Asan Institute from March, lower than half of Koreans mentioned they imagine the U.S. would reply with nuclear weapons if North Korea assaults the South with one. In the meantime, a majority of South Koreans mentioned they help nuclear armament, even at the price of worldwide sanctions or withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“In a new international order without the U.S. in the Western Pacific, South Korea needs a survival strategy based on nuclear weapons,” says Kim. And, he provides, nuclear-powered submarines would enable the nation an “entry point toward a much bigger goal” of nuclear armament.
The South Korean authorities, which is individually pursuing entry to enriching uranium and reprocessing spent gasoline in talks with the U.S., has denied that it desires to go nuclear.
However Kim says the Trump administration is “pushing South Korea and Japan toward the direction of nuclear armament, whether it intends or not.”
NPR’s Anthony Kuhn contributed to this report in Seoul.
