South Korea will build a new class of nuclear-powered attack boats to counter North Korea’s growing missile submarine threat, Seoul announced Tuesday.
The nuclear submarines “will be developed and constructed entirely within the Republic of Korea,” reads a Ministry of National Defense document published Tuesday as part of the announcement that details the Republic of Korea’s Nuclear-powered Submarine Initiative.
The formal announcement of a homegrown nuclear attack boat follows last fall’s approval from Washington to support South Korea’s desire for nuclear fuel. South Korea needs U.S. support to acquire fuel for the boats based on the 2015 Atomic Energy Peaceful Uses Agreement. While the U.S. will help with fuel, Washington is not likely to share reactor technology with Seoul.
The Chang Bogo N Project, named after the country’s first submarine, plans to get the first nuclear attack boat in the water by the mid-2030s and achieve operational status by the end of the decade.
The 31-page document detailing the initiative emphasized the need for the attack boats to counter the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s growing submarine-based nuclear capability. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense highlighted the use of these future submarines to shadow North Korean attack boats the moment they leave port. In the event of a conflict, South Korean forces envision this ability to be able to neutralize Pyongyang’s subsurface strike capabilities before launch.
“Nuclear-powered submarines possess significantly enhanced operational capabilities compared to conventional diesel submarines, including extended submerged endurance and superior mobility. As such, they constitute a critical asset in responding to DPRK submarine-based nuclear and missile threats,” reads the policy document.
The South Korean submarines will also be equipped with precision strike missiles to respond to Pyongyang’s nuclear forces in support of Seoul’s “Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation” plan, a counterstrike operation against targets in the north in the event of a conflict.
Currently, the Republic of Korea Navy operates a fleet of European-derived and domestically-designed conventional attack boats. The service’s newest submarines are equipped with vertical launching systems capable of hosting cruise and ballistic missiles dedicated to striking targets in North Korea. However, Seoul claims that their operational range, speed and endurance are insufficient to deal with the new North Korean missile submarine threat.
North of the 38th Parallel, the Korean People’s Navy has recently debuted new classes of attack boats that are equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other long-range strike capabilities. In December, Pyongyang revealed progress on an 8,700-ton guided-missile submarine. The service’s new Choe Hyon-class destroyers are also bristling with 88 vertical launching system cells capable of supporting nuclear-tipped ballistic and cruise missiles.
South Korea President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump previously discussed the procurement of nuclear submarines during a meeting last fall. The exchange involved Washington’s approval and support for the construction of Seoul’s nuclear attack boats. At the time, Trump said the boats would be built at Hanwha Ocean’s Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia.
