North Korea’s Submarine Program More Dangerous Than Most Would Belive

This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 5, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting the defense detachment on Jangjae Islet and the Hero Defense Detachment on Mu Islet located in the southernmost part of the waters off the southwest front. AFP/Getty Images

Submarines carrying nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles are apocalyptical leviathans—stealthily moving missile launchers—and North Korea has them.

Of the three legs of the U.S. nuclear triad—land-launched ICBMs, bombers with nuclear bombs or missiles, and submarines with nuclear missiles—submarines are arguably the most deadly. They are all but undetectable, can get close to the enemy, and are very difficult to counteract.