Kim calls for upgrade of military
North Korea’s leader inspects submarine
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected a newly built submarine and ordered officials to bolster the country’s military capabilities, state media reported Tuesday, as the North increases pressure on the United States ahead of the possible resumption of nuclear diplomacy.
Last week, North Korea said it might lift its 20-month suspension of nuclear and missile tests to protest expected military drills between the United States and South Korea that Pyongyang alleges are an invasion rehearsal.
The submarine report comes as the U.S. and North Korea work to resume talks after a meeting late last month on the Korean border between Kim and President Donald Trump. Diplomacy has been stalled since the second Kim-trump summit in Vietnam in February fell apart over differences over U.s.-led sanctions on North Korea.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday that Kim expressed “great satisfaction” with the submarine after learning about its operational and tactical data and weapon systems.
Kim “stressed the need to steadily and reliably increase the national defense capability by directing big efforts to the development of the naval weapons and equipment such as submarine,” according to KCNA.
The KCNA said the submarine’s operational deployment “is near at hand.” But it didn’t say when or where Kim’s inspection of the submarine occurred.
The construction of a new submarine suggests North Korea has been increasing its military capability despite nuclear diplomacy with the U.S., which began early last year. North Korea has said it’s willing to abandon its nuclear program for political and economic benefits.
It wasn’t known what kind of a submarine North Korea has built.
But its efforts to develop submarine-launched missile systems are a concern for rivals and neighbors because missiles from submerged vessels are harder to detect.
Before it entered talks with the
U.S., North Korea claimed to have test-fired ballistic missiles from submarines, but many analysts say the country probably remains years away from having an operational system.
North Korea wants relief from harsh U.s.-led sanctions in return for pledging to give up parts of its weapons program, but the United States is demanding greater steps toward disarmament before it agrees to relinquish the leverage provided by the sanctions.