North Korea Appears To Have Built Its First Real Ballistic Missile Submarine
On July 23, North Korean state media released images of Kim Jong-un inspecting a submarine. The boat (submarines are always called boats) was described as newly constructed, although it is likely an old boat that has been newly modified. The images, which do not show the entire submarine, can nonetheless be pieced together to reveal that it is a variant of the 1950s vintage Russian Project 633 submarine, known to NATO as the Romeo class. North Korea has operated as many as twenty of these submarines, with most being built locally with Chinese assistance. The last local construction was in 1996. The age of the underlying design notwithstanding, it appears to have a new capability that should energize strategists: it looks like a ballistic missile submarine.
This is beyond reasonable doubt. Stitching together the handful of images we can see the tell-tale signs. North Korean state media attempted to...