Satellite images reveal that North Korea is building a submarine that could launch ballistic missiles — signaling that the rogue regime is inching toward having an alternative means of delivering nuclear weapons, according to a report.

The photos taken of the Sinpo South Shipyard on Monday appear to confirm North Korean state media reports of a “newly built” sub that leader Kim Jong Un inspected in July, NBC News reported, citing experts at a Washington think tank.

The images show support vessels and a crane that could be used to tow a barge out to sea for a submarine-launched missile test, according to Joseph Bermudez and Victor Cha of Beyond Parallel, a research project funded by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The analysts noted that it was unclear when a test might be carried out, saying that “there is no conclusive evidence at the moment that this is a near-term certainty.”

Media reports out of Pyongyang have claimed that the new sub’s deployment is “near at hand,” but the analysts said it is more accurate to describe the ballistic missile submarine threat as “emerging rather than imminent.”

Even after the craft is built, it would take at least a year to test it and render it fully operational, Bermudez and Cha said.

Still, continuing activity at the site in the past three years suggests that the Hermit Kingdom is moving closer to securing a capability that would give the regime another means of launching nukes.

“The construction and commissioning of a true SSB (ballistic missile submarine) capability would represent a significant advancement of the North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear threat and complicate defense planning in the region, given the difficulties of tracking and/or pre-emptively targeting such capabilities,” the analysts said.

The new images “suggest North Korea is making real progress in developing a second leg of the nuclear triad, bringing them closer to a survivable nuclear force,” they said.

Building a submarine-based nuclear force also would diminish “prospects for full denuclearization,” which has been a goal of several US administrations, according to the analysts’ report.

President Trump has held two summits with Kim in efforts to persuade the regime to abandon its nukes and missiles in return for the easing of economic sanctions.

So far, Pyongyang has refused and has conducted several short-range ballistic missile tests.