North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a "newly built submarine" that was to operate in the Sea of Japan, state-run media said Tuesday, in one of the first displays of power related to his country's nuclear capabilities since November 2017.
Without giving a date, the official Korean Central News Agency said Kim toured the submarine site and "learned in detail about its operational and tactical data and combat weapon systems."
"The operational capacity of a submarine is an important component in national defence of our country bounded on its east and west by sea," Kim was quoted as saying. He stressed "the need to steadily and reliably increase the national defence capability by directing big efforts to the development of the naval weapons and equipment," including submarines.