North Korea yesterday fired a ballistic missile, Seoul’s military said, about a week after US President Donald Trump approved South Korea’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
Analysts have said Seoul’s plan to construct one of the nuclear-driven vessels would likely draw an aggressive response from Pyongyang.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile toward the East Sea, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
Photo: AFP
The missile landed in the sea outside Japan’s economic waters and no damage or injuries had been reported, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
The missile was launched at 12:35pm from an area north of Pyongyang and flew about 700km, South Korea’s military said.
North Korea has significantly increased missile testing, which analysts say is aimed at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the US as well as South Korea, and testing weapons before potentially exporting them to Russia.
“From North Korea’s perspective, the possibility of sudden attacks from the East Sea will be a source of anxiety,” said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies. “If South Korea acquires a nuclear-powered submarine, they would be able to enter North Korean waters and pre-emptively monitor or intercept weapons such as submarine-launched ballistic missiles.”
Trump had announced that South Korea would build the submarine in the US, where the nuclear technology is among the most sensitive and tightly guarded military secrets.
Unlike diesel-powered submarines, which must regularly surface to recharge their batteries, nuclear-powered ones can remain submerged for far longer.
Analysts say that developing a nuclear-powered submarine would mark a significant leap in South Korea’s naval and defense industrial base, joining a select group of nations with such vessels.
Only the US, Australia, China, Russia, India, France and the UK have or plan to build nuclear-powered submarines, according to media and analysis reports.
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