North Korea Tests New High-Speed Torpedo, Sets Early 2027 Navy Deployment

A November test comes with a deployment deadline

North Korea says a new high-speed torpedo will enter naval service from early 2027 after a November 9, 2026, test in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The announcement adds a deployment target to a naval weapons programme that has recently included another torpedo trial, submarine missile launches and two new destroyers.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea's state news agency, announced the test on November 10. It said the Academy of Defense Sciences, the Missile Administration and the Torpedo Weapon Research Bureau jointly developed the weapon and evaluated its combat effectiveness.

KCNA described the work of the three defence research bodies in these terms:

The Academy of Defence Sciences, the Missile Administration and the Torpedo Weapon Research Bureau verified the combat effectiveness of the new-type high-speed torpedo weapon system

Pyongyang's announcement follows an October trial of the Zam-2.0, a torpedo it said used artificial intelligence to find and pursue targets. Together, the tests show North Korea placing greater attention on weapons that travel underwater, alongside its better known missile forces.

For South Korea, the practical concern is a growing variety of possible attacks at sea. Its navy may have to track more submarines, watch larger surface warships and prepare to defend against faster underwater weapons. North Korea's announcement presents early 2027 as the point when the latest torpedo should begin moving from development into naval service.

What North Korea disclosed

KCNA said the November trial formed part of the defence research institutes' regular work to advance weapons technology. The announcement identified the participating institutions, the sea where the test occurred and the intended deployment period, while offering little technical detail.

North Korea released no photographs, speed, range, warhead power or guidance specifications. It also left the launch platform unidentified and the relationship between the November weapon and October's Zam-2.0 unresolved. Early 2027 was the only deployment window given, without an exact date or quantity.

A torpedo is a weapon that travels through water toward a ship, submarine or another target. Its usefulness depends on several things working together: propulsion to move it, sensors to find a target, guidance to steer it and an explosive warhead. North Korea's brief announcement focused on the system's claimed combat effectiveness rather than explaining how those parts performed.

A South Korean unification ministry official assessed the test as an attempt to display stronger naval power and improved underwater weapons. The official said further analysis was needed because Pyongyang had released neither specifications nor photographs. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff also said it was closely monitoring North Korean weapons development.

How the October and November tests connect

North Korea's October torpedo announcement contained more detail about its claimed technology. The weapon, called Zam-2.0 and also rendered as Jam-2.0 or Jjam-2.0, was described as a precision guided torpedo using artificial intelligence for target detection and guidance.

KCNA's October announcement dated that live firing trial to October 15, although October 14 was also reported. North Korea disclosed the trial on October 17. The November 9 launch followed less than a month later.

Pyongyang linked the October programme to five years of development and about 180 tests. It said researchers had verified core technology intended to improve propulsion efficiency and the performance of a rocket propulsion device. These details belong to the earlier development account, while the November announcement supplied the new deployment target.

The short interval between the two trials gives the sequence its importance. North Korea is presenting underwater weapons as a continuing programme involving repeated testing, rather than a single demonstration. Moving a weapon into naval service would also require crews to operate it and ships or submarines to carry and maintain it.

Why speed and guidance matter together

North Korea's references to rocket propulsion and very high speed have prompted discussion of a possible supercavitating torpedo. Supercavitation involves creating a gas cavity around much of a torpedo, reducing contact with water and allowing it to travel faster than a weapon pushing directly through the water.

High speed can shorten the time a defending crew has to detect a weapon and react. Accurate guidance presents another challenge: a torpedo must still locate its target and control its course while moving rapidly through a difficult underwater environment.

Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, assessed the weapon as a possible supercavitating torpedo and questioned whether North Korea had achieved effective guidance. His assessment puts the focus on the combination of speed and control, rather than speed alone.

Artificial intelligence, as described in North Korea's October announcement, would help the weapon process sensor information to identify and track a target. A useful way to understand the claim is that propulsion supplies the movement while guidance supplies the decisions about where to go. A fast weapon still needs reliable information about its target.

For a defending navy, that combination would make both early detection and deception important. Ships can use decoys to draw a torpedo away from them. A weapon better able to distinguish a real target from a decoy could make that defence more difficult, depending on how reliably its sensors and software work.

Destroyers and submarines broaden the programme

North Korea's torpedo tests accompany investment in larger naval platforms. The 5,000-ton destroyer Choe Hyon entered service in the Yellow Sea in June 2026, followed by the 5,000-ton Kang Kon in the East Sea in September.

At the Choe Hyon's commissioning ceremony, leader Kim Jong Un said the navy was becoming a full service equipped with strategic weapons and that its nuclear armament programme was proceeding as planned. He also called for construction of two surface warships a year at least as large as the Choe Hyon, including cruisers of 10,000 tons.

Kim had spoken about new surface and torpedo weapons at a destroyer launching ceremony in June 2025. His subsequent instructions connected weapons evaluation to ship delivery: after observing a strategic cruise missile test from the Choe Hyon by video on March 10, he directed that the ship be handed to the navy on schedule after evaluation of its torpedo systems.

Submarines form another part of the effort. On October 14, North Korea tested two types of strategic cruise missiles from what was believed to be a submarine of about 3,000 tons. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed that one missile used a vertical launch tube and the other an underwater torpedo tube.

Those launch methods give a submarine different ways to carry and fire weapons. A vertical tube launches a missile upward from within the vessel, while a torpedo tube can send a suitable weapon out underwater. Developing both expands the tasks a submarine may be designed to perform.

More than a torpedo project

North Korea's underwater weapons effort also includes the Haeil unmanned underwater attack craft. In March 2023, Pyongyang claimed the craft had travelled in the East Sea at depths of 80 to 150 metres for 59 hours and 12 minutes before detonating a test warhead.

North Korea described Haeil as a nuclear attack system intended for enemy fleets or major operational ports. In September 2023, it unveiled the submarine Kim Kun Ok Hero, a vessel of about 3,000 tons that it described as a tactical nuclear attack submarine.

Pyongyang has also publicised construction of a larger submarine powered by a nuclear reactor. Kim visited its construction site in March 2025, and North Korea displayed the vessel's exterior that December, describing it as an 8,700-ton submarine.

Nuclear propulsion and nuclear armament refer to different things. A reactor supplies power to move a submarine; a nuclear weapon is part of its armament. North Korea's naval announcements address both areas, while also pursuing conventional weapons such as torpedoes.

Recent trials have extended beyond the navy to attack drones, an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, cluster warheads and strategic cruise missiles. The torpedo programme fits a wider effort to develop several kinds of attack weapons that demand different defensive responses.

Why South Korea and the United States are watching

Im Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, assessed that the torpedo activity may be intended to discourage American aircraft carrier strike groups and submarines powered by nuclear reactors from approaching the Korean Peninsula during joint exercises with South Korea.

Im also interpreted North Korea's claims as a display of weapons intended to threaten major South Korean surface warships with attacks that would be difficult to detect early and evade. His assessment places the tests within Pyongyang's effort to counter stronger naval forces through particular weapons rather than matching every type of ship.

Shin Jong-woo linked the development of new torpedoes to North Korea's expansion of its submarine force. A larger or more capable submarine fleet needs suitable weapons, so work on the vessel and its armament proceeds together.

Lee Ki-sik, a former South Korean naval operations commander, warned that North Korea's diversification of launch platforms threatens both South Korea and the United States. He called for stronger military satellite reconnaissance and faster work toward South Korean submarines powered by nuclear reactors, including efforts to secure nuclear fuel.

For naval crews, the immediate issue is the number of threats to monitor. A destroyer carrying missiles, a submarine carrying cruise missiles and a torpedo approaching underwater each require different detection methods and defensive actions. More types of weapons can place greater demands on surveillance, training and coordination.

A maritime dispute adds political weight

Kim's November 2 visit to Nampo Shipyard preceded the torpedo test by a week. During that visit, he stressed territorial sovereignty and the strengthening of surface and underwater forces, connecting naval construction to North Korea's claims over surrounding waters.

The Yellow Sea boundary remains a particular point of tension. In February 2024, Kim rejected the Northern Limit Line, commonly called the NLL, describing it as a line without a basis in international law. The boundary separates the operating areas of the two Koreas in the West Sea, another name for the Yellow Sea.

Oh Gyeong-seop, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, assessed that North Korea may make the NLL a military and political issue after completing fortifications along its land border.

The November torpedo test took place in the East Sea. Oh's warning concerns how a broader naval expansion could affect tensions on the opposite coast, where competing boundary claims already give military movements political weight.

The sequence toward early 2027

North Korea's recent announcements connect ship construction, weapons testing and a promised deployment date. The main steps are:

• June 2025: Kim discussed development of new surface and torpedo weapons at a destroyer launching ceremony.
• June and September 2026: The 5,000-ton destroyers Choe Hyon and Kang Kon entered service.
• October 14, 2026: North Korea tested two types of strategic cruise missiles from a submarine.
• October 2026: North Korea tested the Zam-2.0 torpedo and claimed advances in artificial intelligence and propulsion.
• November 2, 2026: Kim visited Nampo Shipyard and called for stronger surface and underwater forces.
• November 9 and 10, 2026: The latest torpedo test occurred, followed by KCNA's announcement the next day.
• Early 2027: North Korea plans to begin equipping its navy with the newly tested torpedo system.

KCNA carried the November test announcement, while the domestic ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun did not publish it. The announcement gave foreign governments a deployment target to watch while South Korean authorities continued their assessment of the weapon.

Early 2027 is the next stated milestone. The central development is the combination of repeated underwater weapons trials and new vessels intended to carry a broader range of armaments, bringing North Korea's naval programme into sharper focus.

Key Points

• North Korea says it tested a new high-speed torpedo in the East Sea on November 9, 2026.
• KCNA announced plans to begin naval deployment in early 2027.
• The test followed an October trial of the Zam-2.0, which Pyongyang said used artificial intelligence for target detection and guidance.
• North Korea withheld technical specifications, photographs and the launch platform.
• Two new destroyers and submarine missile trials place the torpedo work within a wider naval expansion.
• South Korea is monitoring the programme as named specialists warn of greater demands on ship defence and submarine detection.