Kim Tours Submarine Yard as Putin Hails ‘Invincible Friendship’ with North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a nuclear submarine factory and received a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, hailing the “invincible friendship” between their countries, Pyongyang’s state media said on Thursday.
North Korea and Russia have grown closer since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago, as Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to fight for Russia, primarily in the Kursk region. In return, Russia has been providing North Korea with financial aid, military technology, and food and energy supplies, analysts say.
Putin’s message, received by Pyongyang last week, praised the “heroic” efforts of North Korean soldiers in Russia. “The heroic efforts of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region clearly proved the invincible friendship between Moscow and Pyongyang,” Putin said, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Furthermore, he added that their work demonstrated the nations’ “militant fraternity” and that the provisions of the “historic treaty” signed last year, which includes a mutual defense clause, had been fulfilled “thanks to our joint efforts.”
However, South Korean and Western intelligence agencies estimate that around 2,000 North Korean troops died and thousands more wounded in Ukraine. North Korea acknowledged this month that its troops in Kursk had been assigned to clear mines and that some had died on deployment.
Military Developments
During his visit to the nuclear submarine factory, Kim Jong Un vowed to counter the “threat” of South Korea producing its own nuclear-powered submarines. “Pyongyang would view Seoul developing nuclear subs as an offensive act severely violating its security and maritime sovereignty,” Kim said, according to KCNA. He also clarified a naval reorganization plan and learned about research into “new underwater secret weapons.”
Photos published by KCNA showed Kim walking alongside a purportedly 8,700-tonne submarine at an indoor assembly site, surrounded by officials and his daughter Kim Ju Ae. In another image, Kim smiles during an official briefing with his daughter standing beside him.
Additionally, Kim oversaw the test launch of “new-type high-altitude long-range anti-air missiles” over the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The projectiles hit mock targets at an altitude of 200 kilometers, KCNA said. That height, if correct, would be in space. One photo showed a missile ascending into the sky in a trail of intense orange flame.
International Reactions
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they had been aware of the launch preparations and had braced for the firing in advance. “South Korean and US intelligence authorities are currently closely analyzing the specifications,” they said. However, in the North’s first comments on the US-South Korea deal, a commentary piece by KCNA last month said the program was a “dangerous attempt at confrontation” that could lead to a “nuclear domino phenomenon.”
Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP that the submarine photos raise “considerable speculation” over whether Russia helped North Korea assemble a nuclear-powered submarine “within such a short time frame.”
North Korea’s defence ministry said it would consider “countermeasures” against US “nuclear muscle flexing,” according to a separate report on Thursday. Only a handful of countries have nuclear-powered submarines, and the United States considers its technology among the most sensitive and tightly guarded military secrets. US President Donald Trump has given the green light for South Korea to build “nuclear-powered attack submarines,” though key details of the project remain uncertain.
