South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday published its first official blueprint for the domestic development of nuclear-powered submarines, establishing a formal timeline to launch a first-in-class vessel by the mid-2030s. Dubbed the “Jangbogo-N Project,” the state-level acquisition program aims to field conventionally armed, nuclear-propelled attack submarines by the late 2030s to counter growing North Korean naval nuclear threats. According to the ministry, the specialized vessels will be constructed entirely within South Korea using civilian maritime infrastructure and will utilize low-enriched uranium under a 20% threshold to power their naval reactors.

To address international non-proliferation concerns, the defense ministry