It's always been a toss up between SK or Taiwan as to who will be first to say, "We've got the bomb". Perhaps SK just took the lead. As to who has them first. I'd bet Japan, who would never openly say so.
IMHO the bang isn't worth the buck for a smaller country to have conventional bm subs. Heck, I don't think it's worth it for a declining empire like the US.
We considered it in 2006 and rejected it then due to the possibility of Russia or China thinking it was a nuclear launch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_(missile)#Conventional_Trident
A shame as it's as close as we've ever come to Heinlein, Pournelle, and Niven's "Rods From God".
It's always been a toss up between SK or Taiwan as to who will be first to say, "We've got the bomb". Perhaps SK just took the lead. As to who has them first. I'd bet Japan, who would never openly say so.
IMHO the bang isn't worth the buck for a smaller country to have conventional bm subs. Heck, I don't think it's worth it for a declining empire like the US.