Sinpo-class submarine

The Sinpo class submarine is a new class of submarines produced in North Korea. One submarine has been observed under construction. It is the largest submarines designed and built for the Korean People's Navy.

Design and Features
The design may be influenced by older Yugoslavian designs such as Heroj and Sava. These has been speculation the design is influenced by modern Russian submarines of Kilo class, or Golf class submarine, but the submarine under construction is significantly smaller than these designs.

Despite being possibly less advanced and capable of western or South Korean vessels, they could still represent a significative step forward by the submarine fleet of the Korean People's Navy. If the design is successful, the Sinpo class could replace the aging Romeo submarines. However it is possibly a one-off experimental submarine as the Korean People's Navy has built previously.

At first a blue cover on the sail has been proposed as a possible vertical tube for missile launcher on a blog-like website, though this was refuted by more reliable sources. Later however, new satellite pictures could confirm the presence of an opening on the cunning tower to indicate the presence of tubes for launch of 1 or 2 missiles of unclear type.

Speculations
Only satellite imagines are available, because no official photo was released by North Korea.

South Korean media has suggested that North Korea managed to reverse-engineered or modify one of the old Golf-II hulls that North Korea imported in early '90s. However also this claim is refused by some western analyst sources.