North Korea on Wednesday condemned South Korea's push to build a nuclear-powered submarine. In this May 2026 photo, President Lee Jae Myung (C) is briefed on the country's submarine plans in Changwon. Photo by Yonhap
North Korea on Wednesday denounced South Korea's efforts to build a nuclear-powered submarine, calling it a step toward "nuclear armament," and warned of "unparalleled power" to neutralize threats, Pyongyang's state media said.
In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Jang Kum-chol, first vice minister of North Korea's foreign ministry, said that Seoul's goal was "to secure the right to produce nuclear materials, free from the restraint of the item on reprocessing nuclear waste fuel and prohibiting uranium enrichment, and ultimately pave the way for making a leap forward to nuclear armament."
He warned Seoul's nuclear cooperation with Washington on nuclear submarine development will further destabilize the Korean Peninsula and pose a grave challenge to North Korea's security and maritime sovereignty.
"The possession of the unparalleled power capable of neutralizing all sorts of existing or newly-emerging potential threats and responding to any military attempt of the enemy states to provoke the strategic sovereignty security of our state with the retaliatory attack which make them impossible to survive and revive will be the most responsible option for deterring a war," he said.
