As North Korea progresses toward deploying a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), its southern neighbor is planning to operate submarines with at least enlarged batteries of land-attack cruise missiles.

According to some reports, South Korea is also working on SLBMs. Such a program would be technically challenging and hard to justify militarily. The Hanwha Hyunmu 2 short-range ballistic missile is a likely basis of the weapon, development of which may have already begun.

Like the rest of South Korea’s efforts at developing and building bombardment missiles, the underwater element is wrapped in secrecy that has been broken by only a few local news reports, not all of them consistent. The government does not discuss the weapons.

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