SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea unveiled for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under construction, a weapons system that can pose a major security threat to South Korea and the U.S.

State media on Saturday released photos showing what it called «a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine,» as it reported leader Kim Jong Un’s visits to major shipyards where warships are built.

The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, didn’t provide details on the submarine, but said Kim was briefed on its construction.

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The naval vessel appears to be a 6,000-ton-class or 7,000-ton-class one which can carry about 10 missiles, said Moon Keun-sik, a South Korean submarine expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University. He said the use of the term «the strategic guided missiles» meant it would carry nuclear-capable weapons.

«It would be absolutely threatening to us and the U.S.,» Moon said.

A nuclear-powered submarine was among a long wishlist of sophisticated weaponry that Kim vowed to introduce during a major political conference in 2021 to cope with what he called escalating U.S.-led military threats. Other weapons were solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, spy satellites and multi-warhead missiles. North Korea has since performed a run of testing activities to acquire them.

North Korea obtaining a greater ability to fire missiles from underwater is a worrying development because it’s difficult for its rivals to detect such launches in advance.

Questions about how North Korea, a heavily sanctioned and impoverished country, could get resources and technology to build nuclear-powered submarines have surfaced.

Moon, the submarine expert, said North Korea may have received Russian technological assistance to build a nuclear reactor to be used in the submarine in return for supplying conventional weapons and troops to support Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine.

In this undated photo provided on March 8, 2025, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, bottom right, visits a shipyard to construct warships at an undisclosed place in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

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He also said North Korea could launch the submarine in one or two years to test its capability before its actual deployment.

North Korea has an estimated 70-90 diesel-powered submarines in one of the world’s largest fleets. However, they are mostly aging ones capable of launching only torpedoes and mines, not missiles.

In 2023, North Korea said it had launched what it called its first «tactical nuclear attack submarine,» but foreign experts doubted the North’s announcement and speculated it was likely a diesel-powered submarine disclosed in 2019. Moon said there has been no confirmation that it has been deployed.

North Korea has conducted a slew of underwater-launched ballistic missile tests since 2016, but all launches were made from the same 2,000-ton-class submarine which has a single launch tube. Many experts call it a test platform, rather than an operational submarine in active service.

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In recent days, North Korea has been dialing up its fiery rhetoric against the U.S. and South Korea ahead of their upcoming annual military drills set to start Monday.

During his visits to the shipyards, Kim said North Korea aims to modernize water-surface and underwater warships simultaneously. He stressed the need to make «the incomparably overwhelming warships fulfill their mission» to contain «the inveterate gunboat diplomacy of the hostile forces,» KCNA reported Saturday.

President Donald Trump’s highly acclaimed Turnberry golf resort in Scotland was vandalized with graffiti overnight Friday by pro-Palestine activists who also dug holes into one of the course’s fairways.

Drone footage shows the resort’s clubhouse splattered with red paint while giant white letters reading «Gaza Is Not For Sale» were painted on an area next to a green.

The lamp post at the resort’s entrance was also damaged while graffiti reading «Free Gaza» and «Free Palestine» were sprayed on the entrance’s wall.

The group Palestine Action took responsibility following Trump’s plans for the future of Gaza, which could see millions of Palestinians displaced. 

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«To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance,» the group said in a statement.

Trump received heavy criticism last month when he suggested the U.S. take over Gaza during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu. His proposal would involve the relocation of Palestinians and turning the enclave into what he describes as the «Riviera of the Middle East.» 

Trump’s Turnberry golf course and hotel is located in southwest Scotland and has three courses – two 18-hole courses and one 9 hole course — with the venue previously hosting four Open Championships. However, it hasn’t staged the event since Trump bought the course in 2014 and renovated several holes.

A police officer inspects damage in the aftermath of a pro-Palestinian protest on U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf course in Turnberry, Scotland on March 8, 2025. (Milo Chandler/IMDmilo.com/via REUTERS)

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It wasn’t immediately clear which course had been vandalized.

The Alisa Course, its signature course, is named after an uninhibited volcanic island, Ailsa Craig, set across from the property that is half a billion years old. The course consistently ranks among the world’s top 10 golf courses.

«Yesterday, it was ranked #3 golf course in Europe. Today, it’s shut,» Palestine Action wrote on X.

The resort is one of two that Trump, via the Trump Organization, operates in Scotland, with the second being Trump International Scotland in Aberdeen. The president is an avid golfer and his mother hailed from Scotland. 

Police in Scotland said they are investigating the incident. 

Drone footage shows «Gaza Is Not For Sale» in giant white letters painted on an area next to a green at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. (Hassan Ghani via Reuters)

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«Around 4.40 a.m. on Saturday, 8 March, 2025, we received a report of damage to the golf course and a premises on Maidens Road, Turnberry,» a Police Scotland spokesperson said, adding that investigations were ongoing.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment. 

Holes dug by vandals at Trump’s Turnberry course. (Hassan Ghani via Reuters)

Separately on Saturday, a man waving a Palestinian flag climbed the Elizabeth Tower – commonly known as Big Ben – at London’s Palace of Westminster.

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Pope Francis has apparently shown «slight improvement» and is responding well to ongoing oxygen therapy, according to a statement from the Vatican. 

The 88-year-old pontiff has been in the hospital since Feb. 14, when he was admitted for respiratory issues that were later found to be bilateral pneumonia.

Doctors are keeping the pope’s prognosis under wraps as they continue to evaluate his condition.

On Thursday, the pope recorded a message thanking those who had been praying for his recovery. The recording was «clearly an effort for him,» Vatican sources said, pointing out that the noise from the pope’s oxygen machine could be heard in the audio.

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«We could hear yesterday that he was getting oxygen through the nose during audio, clearly he won’t read Angelus,» Vatican sources told Fox News.

Pope Francis waves to believers as he leaves the Cercle Cite after a meeting Luxembourg’s prime minister during a four-day apostolic journey in Luxembourg and Belgium, in Luxembourg city on Sept. 26, 2024.  (Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty)

Ash Wednesday also looked different this year, as the pope was unable to lead mass. Instead, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis read the pope’s homily aloud at Rome’s Santa Sabrina Basilica.

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The pope has had a long history of respiratory issues. When he was just 21 years old, Pope Francis had part of his lung removed after developing pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the membranes that cushion the lungs. Now, according to Vatican sources, he is continuing therapy for bilateral pneumonia.

The Pope has been hospitalized since  Feb. 14 with pneumonia and a bronchial infection. Candles with the pictures of him are the laid under the statue of late Pope John Paul II in Rome on Feb. 19, 2025.  (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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Catholics across the globe have prayed for Pope Francis since he was first hospitalized in February. This includes Vice President JD Vance, who offered a prayer for the pope during last month’s National Prayer Breakfast.

«Every day me and my children have said a prayer for the Holy Father, and we pray for his health, and we pray for his comfort as he deals with what appears to be a pretty serious health crisis,» Vance said.