A submarine-based missile would take the North's arsenal to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a second-strike capability in the event of an attack on its military bases.
News of the launch comes just a day after the North announced renewed negotiations with the US pictured: Kim Jong-un watching military drills in May. The United States earlier voiced alarm, with a State Department spokesperson calling on North Korea 'to refrain from provocations' and 'remain engaged in substantive and sustained negotiations' aimed at bringing stability and denuclearisation.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday said it had detected a ballistic missile fired in an easterly direction from the sea, northeast of Wonsan port. Launches like this 'are not helpful to efforts to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and we urge North Korea again to stop immediately,' it added. Tokyo said a part of the missile landed in waters within Japan's exclusive economic zone - a kilometre mile band around Japanese territory. A submarine-based missile would take the North's arsenal to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a second-strike capability in the event of an attack on its military bases pictured: an image released by the North's propaganda machine Wednesday.
France's foreign ministry condemned repeated missile launches by Pyongyang and said the latest test 'cannot contribute to the resumption of serious negotiations. The North's leader Kim Jong Un sent 'warm congratulations' to research units involved in the launch, which 'had no adverse impact on the security of neighboring countries,' KCNA said. North Korea is banned from ballistic missile launches by United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The test-firing 'ushered in a new phase in containing the outside forces' threat to the DPRK and further bolstering its military muscle for self-defence,' KCNA said, using a formal acronym for the North. The North carried out a successful test of the solid-fuel Pukkuksong-1, also known as KN, in August , which flew around miles kilometres. Analysts say the missile is likely an intermediate-range ballistic missile with an actual flight range of around 1, miles 2, kilometres.
