The test came just days after North Korea threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against South Korean and USA forces who kicked off their annual Ulchi Freedom military drills on Monday.
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“The North is demonstrating a nascent capability to strike at South Korea with an SLBM, thereby complicating ballistic missile defense planning and operations”, it said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) laughs as he watches a test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in a photo released by the official Korean Central News Agency on Thursday.
A screen in Seoul shows a news bulletin on August 24, 2016, reporting that North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Analysts agree that North Korea’s latest SLBM test-firing indicates that the country is making progress in the development of a submarine-launched missile system that could also carry a nuclear warhead.
But the North has continued to launch ballistic missiles and tensions have mounted.
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday at the request of the United States and Japan to discuss the launch. He said the US was drafting the text of a statement and council members would “have a look at it”.
The foreign ministers of Japan, South Korea and even China, North Korea’s main ally, said after a meeting in Tokyo that the launch was “totally unacceptable”.
A proven SLBM system would take North Korea’s nuclear strike threat 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.
North Korea claimed the exercises, which kicked off Monday, were a rehearsal for invading the reclusive state, which was hit by strengthened United Nations punitive measures following its fourth ever nuclear test earlier this year.
The U.S. State Department also strongly condemned the missile test and urged the North “to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps towards fulfilling its commitments and worldwide obligations”.
North Korea’s ruler on Thursday hailed a submarine-launched missile test as “the greatest success” and said it put the USA mainland within striking distance. It flew an estimated 310 miles toward the seas around Japan, the longest distance it has yet achieved in a submarine launch.
About 28,500 USA troops are based in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. In an article that was published on North Korea-affairs website 38 North two days after North Korea’s SLBM test launch on April. 23, John Schilling, an American expert on missiles, predicted that North Korea’s SLBM would become a legitimate threat in 2020. “Either way, that missile works”.
The missile was launched at a steep angle, a South Korean military source told Yonhap News Agency in Seoul, and likely could have traveled for more than 600 miles if it had been fired at a regular angle.
“This poses a grave threat to Japan’s security, and is an unforgivable act that damages regional peace and stability markedly”, Reuters quoted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as saying to reporters.
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North Korea appears to have learned this lesson during its test launches past year and to have switched to a solid fuel engine.
