An NK SSBN Commissioned Within 10 years? Maybe.

Hi Shawn at 10/11/2024 6:26 PM 

It is interesting that this October 8, 2024 South Korean (SK) article https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241008003451315 about a North Korean (NK) nuclear sub program doesn't make mention of the alleged (likely top heavy) September 2023 SSB. 

See my September 10, 2023 article at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2023/09/nks-new-ssb-missile-firing-via-test.html 

Both NK subs are very similar. Or maybe they are one and the same?!

Impoverished NK devotes so much attention and money to its nuclear triad, that the possibility of a relatively quickly constructed NK SSBN, with Russian help, should be treated seriously.

Perhaps Russia is helping NK build a nuclear sub as barter for all the ammunition NK is donating to Russia's Ukrainian war stocks. 

Against this I have a feeling China would be nervous about unpredictable NK not only having thermonuclear weapons [1] but having the most effective platform of a nuclear triad, an SSBN, to launch such weapons.

The possibility of an NK SSBN in the medium term could be used by SK as political ammunition to persuade the US to permit SK to have its own nuclear propulsion  capability. [2] Nuclear weapons for SK would be another matter. 

This is perhaps why SK's Parliamentary Rep. Kang Dae-sik of the ruling People Power Party was permitted to speak on the record about such a sensitive nuclear topic on October 8, 2024 at https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241008003451315 

[1] See 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction#2017  

"On September 3, 2017, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a thermonuclear bomb, also known as a hydrogen bomb. Corresponding seismic activity similar to an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 was reported by the [US Geological Service] USGS, making the blast around 10 times more powerful than previous detonations by the country. Later the bomb yield was estimated to be 250 kilotons, based on further study of the seismic data. The test was reported to be "a perfect success" by North Korean authorities."

[2] See “LEU More Acceptable for South Korean Nuclear Submarines” of October 14, 2020 at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2020/10/leu-more-acceptable-for-south-korean.html