The Diplomat:
U.S. military intelligence has detected a new diesel-electric submarine under construction at North Korea’s Sinpo shipyard, on the country’s east coast, according to a U.S. government source with knowledge of North Korea’s weapons programs who spoke to The Diplomat.
According to current U.S. intelligence estimates, the submarine’s submerged displacement is thought to be in excess of 2,000 tons with a beam measurement of 11 meters. The vessel is likely the largest ever to be built for the Korean People’s Navy since the Najin-class frigates.
The submarine, dubbed the Sinpo-C by the United States intelligence community, is likely a successor to North Korea’s Gorae-class ballistic missile submarine (SSB). (The U.S. intelligence community calls the Gorae-class the Sinpo-B.) Open source analysis, including by analysts at 38 North, had also detected signatures of ongoing shipbuilding at Sinpo suggestive of a new submarine.
