Kim Jong-un, the chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, guided a construction site where a nuclear-powered submarine is being built. On South Korea's push to build a nuclear-powered submarine, he said it was "an aggressive act that severely infringes on our state's security and maritime sovereignty."
Korean Central News Agency reported on the 25th that Kim Jong-un guided the on-site "8700-ton-class nuclear-powered strategic guided-missile submarine construction project."
Kim Jong-un said, "South Korea's nuclear submarine development plan, agreed with Washington at Seoul's recent solicitation, will further cause instability in the Korean Peninsula region," adding, "We regard it as an aggressive act that severely infringes on our state's security and maritime sovereignty and as a security threat that must be met with a response."
He went on to say, "We must make it unmistakably clear to the enemies that when they touch our strategic sovereign security, they will inevitably pay a price and, if they attempt a military option, they will face merciless retaliatory strikes."
Kim Jong-un said, "Further strengthening the nuclear shield, the absolute collateral of security, and firmly cementing its irreversible status is the noble mission and duty of our generation."
He added, "Our party and the government of the republic will remain unwavering in the determination to guarantee the country's permanent peace environment and absolute security with a nuclear force composition that the enemy cannot help but fear." He reiterated the existing position that denuclearization is not possible.
Kim Jong-un called the nuclear-powered submarine North Korea is building "an important component of nuclear war deterrence."
In line with the decision of the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party, North Korea is pushing to build a "nuclear-powered strategic guided-missile submarine." The agency used names such as "nuclear-powered strategic guided-missile submarine" and "nuclear strategic attack submarine." It appears to be building a submarine powered by nuclear fuel and armed with strategic guided missiles.
The agency reported that it declared the will and operational guidelines to continue strongly pushing the "nuclear armament of the navy." It is interpreted as an attempt to acquire sea-based nuclear delivery capability.
The agency said Kim Jong-un also specifically learned the status of research on newly developing "underwater secret weapons" and unveiled strategic plans related to reorganizing naval forces and creating new units.