Report: North Korea close to completing subs that can launch SLBMs

(MENAFN- Asia Times)

North Korea may have completed 80 percent of the work needed on submarines capable of launching SLBMs, or submarine-launched ballistic missiles, according to a Japanese newspaper.

The Tokyo Shimbun reported Thursday that Pyongyang has two or three missile-launch capable submarines that are almost ready to be deployed, UPI, which picked up the story.

The Japanese newspaper cited a North Korean source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The new submarines can reportedly be equipped with Pyongyang's newly developed Pukguksong-3 SLBM. They are expected to join an existing 2,000-ton Sinpo-class North Korean sub that has only one launcher. But they will be bigger — boasting a displacement of 3,000 tons and will have multiple launchers.

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