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N. Korea launches ballistic missile submarine: gov't sources
Yonhap News ^ | 2014/11/02

Posted on 11/01/2014 7:24:59 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

N. Korea launches ballistic missile submarine: gov't sources

2014/11/02 08:00

SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has launched a new submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, military and government sources in Seoul said Sunday, raising further concerns over the North's evolving missile and nuclear threats.

The communist country "imported a Soviet-era Golf-class diesel submarine and modified it," a government source said on condition of anonymity. The Soviet vessel was built in 1958 and decommissioned in 1990.

"The new submarine is 67 meters long with a beam of 6.6 meters, and has a dived displacement in the 3,000-ton range," the source said.

Despite a series of reports on Pyongyang's possible development of a new submarine, Seoul military officers have said Pyongyang has not yet acquired technology to deploy submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The Russian 3,500-ton Golf II class submarine carries the R-21 SLBM, a single-stage, liquid-propellant missile with a 1,180-kilogram warhead and a maximum range of 1,420 kilometers.

"The North's new vessel is what the website 38 North reported last month as 'an unidentified submarine' moored in a boat basin at the Sinpo South Shipyard, citing its review of satellite imagery," the source said.

The website is run by the U.S. Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

As the North's primary submarine manufacturing facility in South Hamgyong Province on the east coast, the Sinpo shipyard is home to the headquarters of its Maritime Research Institute of the Academy of National Defense Sciences.

In a move to mount a missile tube on the new vessel, the communist country has carried out dozens of tests both on the ground and at sea, another source said.

"According to the analysis of satellite imagery revealed by 38 North, a ground test facility for the SLBM launch has been up and running at the Sinpo shipyard," he said, adding a dozen more tests would be required to perfect the technology.

His comments are in line with what arms expert Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. said in his report this month that North Korea has built "a new test stand" at Sinpo to research and develop SLBMs. He said that the installation has a 35-by-30-meter concrete pad with an approximately 12-meter-high test stand.

"It would take one or two years before the North completes the test for the vertical launch of missiles from the sea," said a military source in Seoul, expressing security concerns as Pyongyang has also been working on miniaturizing nuclear warheads for its missiles.

The belligerent regime has more submarines than the South, albeit being equipped with outdated weapons. It is believed to have some 70 submarines including some 20 1,800-ton Romeo-class submarines.

As part of efforts to bolster its anti-submarine capabilities in the wake of the North's deadly attack of its warship of Cheonan in 2010, South Korea is planning to put six 3,000-ton ballistic missile submarines into operation starting 2027. The sinking killed 46 South Korean sailors, while Pyongyang has denied any involvement.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ballisticmissiles; boomer; nkorea; nksub; slbm
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To: Secret Agent Man

bump


21 posted on 11/01/2014 9:10:18 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: lurk

either that or they die and their entire extended families could be sent to the camps


22 posted on 11/01/2014 9:10:59 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: Minutemen

lol


23 posted on 11/01/2014 9:11:20 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: lurk

Die a death in a watery grave, or get eaten by rabid dogs.


24 posted on 11/01/2014 9:24:08 PM PDT by Politicalkiddo ("Our fertitlity is not a disease that needs to be medicated."- Lila Rose)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Can this boat go down Chief? Like a rock Sir.
25 posted on 11/01/2014 9:26:07 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: Trueblackman

Hey, N Korea,....I hear Orbital Sciences has a great deal on some Russian NK-33 rocket engines, which are the same vintage as your Russian sub. What a match! Opportunity knocks.....


26 posted on 11/01/2014 9:43:38 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: Trueblackman

Yeah, liquid fuel for missiles is universally nasty stuff. “Energetic” unstable, short usable lifetime, poisonous, corrosive. ... Not the kind of stuff I’d want to be sealed up in a steel tube with. Especially a 50 year old soviet steel tube.


27 posted on 11/01/2014 9:48:13 PM PDT by ThunderSleeps (Stop obarma now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: Brother Cracker

Getty Images allows none of their photos to be posted to Free Republic, even if you or someone else copies and pastes it onto a photo hosting site.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts
Thanks.


29 posted on 11/01/2014 10:01:12 PM PDT by Admin Moderator
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I have no idea what is inside it, does anyone else? All they have to do is get it to Kalifornia, or within 100 miles of it, shoot one of their missiles up to detonate an EMP, and there you go. Who will be laughing then? I wouldn't doubt if we LET them do it.
30 posted on 11/02/2014 2:20:33 AM PST by Captainpaintball (Immigration without assimilation is the death of a nation)
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To: miele man

How deep? All the way to the bottom.


31 posted on 11/02/2014 2:49:22 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
" The Soviet vessel was built in 1958 "

I'll bet there's not a long list of volunteers clamoring to serve on it.

32 posted on 11/02/2014 3:32:43 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones)
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To: cardinal4

Think the Glomar Explorer found a HOTEL. As someone said liquid fuel, bad seals, and salt water do not mix.


33 posted on 11/02/2014 7:04:44 AM PST by bravo whiskey (we shouldn't fear the government. the government should fear us.)
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To: GeronL

Too me I think Chia Chub is proven to be Eric Cartman of North Korea leader

I NOT FAT I am just big boned LOL!


34 posted on 11/02/2014 8:19:24 AM PST by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: SevenofNine

lol

if he were big boned, he wouldn’t need that cane


35 posted on 11/02/2014 1:04:06 PM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

36 posted on 11/02/2014 1:10:09 PM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: GeronL

I hear more rumor that it is gout he has LOL!


37 posted on 11/02/2014 1:11:44 PM PST by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: bravo whiskey
Think the Glomar Explorer found a HOTEL.

Nope, Glomar Ex. fished a diesel powered Golf K-129

K-19, which had a reactor metdown in the Atlantic was an Hotel

38 posted on 11/02/2014 4:31:07 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (without fear or favour: no dog in the fight)
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