Yugo (DPRK)

The Yugo-class is a North Korean midget submarine primarily designed for infiltration, special operations, and coastal defense. It is characterized by its small size, allowing for covert operations in shallow waters.

Developed in the 1970s based on technical plans acquired from Yugoslavia, the Yugo-class midget submarine entered service with the Korean People's Navy to conduct covert reconnaissance and agent insertion. The class gained international attention during several clandestine missions, most notably in June 1998 when a Yugo-class vessel was captured by the South Korean Navy after becoming entangled in a fishing net off Sokcho. North Korea also exported several units to Vietnam and Iran, with the latter utilizing the design as a foundational basis for its domestic Ghadir-class submarine program. While now largely phased out of active North Korean service in favor of the more advanced Yono and Sang-O classes, the Yugo-class established the framework for Pyongyang's enduring asymmetric undersea warfare doctrine.