North Korea yesterday said it had successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) — a technology that could eventually offer the nuclear-armed state a survivable second-strike capability.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who oversaw the test, hailed the newly developed missile as a “world-level strategic weapon,” according to a report by the KCNA news agency.
Adding further fuel to inter-Korean tensions, South Korea’s military said it had detected the separate test-firing by North Korea yesterday of three anti-ship cruise missiles off its northeast coast.
Photo: EPA
Pyongyang has issued three warnings over the past week that it will fire on sight at South Korean navy patrol boats it accuses of violating the disputed Yellow Sea border on the west side of the divided peninsula.
Seoul has denied any incursions and vowed to retaliate “sternly” to any provocation. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the SLBM test, which would violate UN sanctions banning Pyongyang from using ballistic missile technology.
A fully developed SLBM capability would take the North Korean nuclear threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and the potential to retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack.
Satellite images earlier this year had shown the conning tower of a new North Korean submarine, which Johns Hopkins University’s US-Korea Institute analysts said appeared to house one or two vertical launch tubes for either ballistic or cruise missiles.
The same analysts said at the time that developing an operational SLBM capability would be extremely costly and would take North Korea “years” to achieve.
According to the KCNA report, the test was carried out by a submarine that dived to launch depth on the sounding of a combat alarm.
“After a while, the ballistic missile soared into the sky from under water,” the agency said.
It gave no detail of the size or range, nor did it specify when or where the launch was carried out.
Pictures released by KCNA showed a missile firing out of the water, with Kim watching from a boat in the foreground.
North Korea has been known to alter military photos and the validity of the KCNA pictures could not immediately be verified.
While there is no doubt that North Korea has been running an active ballistic missile development program, expert opinion is split on just how much progress it has made. North Korea has yet to conduct a test showing it has mastered the re-entry technology required for an effective intercontinental ballistic missile.
There are also competing opinions on whether the North has the ability to miniaturize a nuclear device that would fit onto a delivery missile.
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