▲ This file photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 12, 2025, shows the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, presiding over an enlarged plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea that the North convened from Dec. 9-11. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

NK leader-nuclear sub

N. Korea's Kim warns Seoul's nuclear-powered submarine plan will 'worsen instability'

SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said South Korea's plan to build nuclear-powered submarines will "worsen the instability" in the region, calling Seoul's move a threat to the North's national security, according to state media Thursday.

Kim made the remarks during an on-site inspection of an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine under construction, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The North Korean leader referred to Seoul's plan to build nuclear-powered submarines, saying it "will worsen the instability in the region of the Korean Peninsula ... (and) DPRK regards it as an offensive act severely violating its security and maritime sovereignty."

DPRK refers to the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

He also said it represents "a threat to its security that must be countered."

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