Korea Times – North Korea is possibly building a new submarine that can fire ballistic missiles, according to South Korean and U.S. defense officials, Friday.
This could be a serious security threat to the United States as the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) may reach as far as the U.S. mainland.
“[SLBM technology] changes the defense equation in terms of where the origin could be,” U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said Wednesday (local time) in a Senate hearing.
The SLBMs are considered more threatening weapons than intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), as they are harder to detect and increase the regime’s strike capabilities in a more secretive manner.
According to recent Google Earth satellite images, components presumed to be used for developing a submarine capable of launching missiles have been detected near the North’s shipyard in Sinpo. The materials were not detected in images taken last year.
