South Korea plans to deploy enhanced submarines in the next five years.

According to information published by the Korea Herald Website on August 10, 2020, the South Korean Defense Ministry plans to deploy enhanced submarines in the next five years able to carry more ballistic missiles.
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SS-083 Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, KSS-III Class submarine (Picture Source Doosan)

An official from the South Korea Ministry of Defense said, we will develop new submarines that will be able to carry more ballistic missiles than the existing Dosan submarines, which have six launching tubes. The submarine will be powered by a nuclear engine instead of diesel.

The South Korea Navy currently operates a submarine fleet of nine diesel-electric Jang Bogo-class (Type 209/1200) and seven Son Won II-class (Type 214) hybrid diesel-electric/fuel cell vessels with air-independent propulsion (AIP).

The Korean Attack Submarine program, KSS meaning Submarine, is a three-phased project to build up the Republic of Korea Navy (ROK Navy)'s attack submarine arsenal.

For the first phase KSS-I, the South Korean Navy acquired nine 1,200-ton Chang Bo-go class submarines. For the second phase, KSS-II, the South Korean Navy plans to acquire nine 1,800-ton Type 214 submarines equipped with Air-independent propulsion (AIP) the lead ship of her class, ROKS Sohn Won-il (SS 072) was launched at a shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries on June 9, 2006.

The third part of the program is the construction of nine local-made 3,000-ton diesel-electric attack submarines dubbed KSS-III equipped with air-independent propulsion and multiple vertical launch tubes able to fire Hyunmoo-3C cruise missiles at a range up to 1,500 kilometers.

In September 2018, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) launched the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy's first 3,000 tons submarine on September 14, 2018.