SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited the Navy's submarine force command during his five-day leave, his office said Friday.
Presidential vice spokesperson Ko Min-jung told reporters that Moon visited the submarine force command inside the naval base in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang province, about 400 km southeast of the capital Seoul, on Thursday.
Moon has been on his five-day leave scheduled to end later in the day.
During his visit to the command, Moon inspected the 1,800-ton submarine An Jung-geun, which was commissioned in 2009.
The submarine command, which was established in 2015, is reportedly operating about 10 submersibles of 1,200-ton and 1,800-ton classes.
Moon's visit to the submarine command followed Defense Minister Song Young-moo's comments earlier this week that the military was "ready to consider" the construction of its indigenous nuclear-powered submarine.
Song made the remarks during the parliamentary defense committee meeting Monday, but he did not elaborate on any plan.
During the parliamentary confirmation hearing on July 28, the defense chief said the military was mulling a nuclear-powered submarine as a countermeasure against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s development of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
SLBM is picked as one of the main tools capable of delivering a nuclear-tipped warhead. The DPRK announced its successful test-launch of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), another delivery tool of a nuclear warhead, a week ago.
