North Korea’s pursuit of an SLBM is meant to complement its existing range of land-launched, road-mobile ballistic missiles and artillery. No damage to the Japanese air and sea vessels have so far been reported.
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The U.S. Strategic Command statement said the North Korean launch did not pose a threat to North America but that the U.S. military “remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations”.
The protest was transmitted through diplomatic channels through the Japanese Embassy in China, the agency said.
The launch came just two days after Seoul and Washington kicked off their joint annual war games, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG).
North Korea has defied United Nations resolutions barring it from conducting nuclear or ballistic missile tests. The United States and South Korea, in their turn, insisted that the exercises are aimed at training defensive skills for combating emerging threat from the North.
The US Pacific Command tracked the missile over and into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, approximately 300 miles off the coast of North Korea.
North Korea’s firing of a submarine-launched missile on Wednesday could be seen as a “tit-for-tat move” in response to recent U.S. As Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert and North Korea watcher notes, a North Korean SLBM could plausibly bypass the upcoming Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean peninsula due to the system’s 120° radar field of view.
Japan’s Cabinet was to approve details of the provision, provided to the women through a South Korean organization launched last month.
North Korea fired two other missiles from submarines earlier this year but they were believed to have exploded in midair after flying several or 30 kilometers (18 miles), according to South Korean defense officials.
People watch a TV news program showing a file footage of North Korea’s ballistic missile that the North claimed to have launched from underwater, at Seoul Railway station.
The launch also comes at a time of intensified animosities between the rival Koreas over the defection of a senior North Korean diplomat in London and a USA plan to install a sophisticated missile defense system in South Korea.
The missile was most likely a KN-11 ballistic missile, the USA official said.
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“They are holding a wolf by the ears in the hope that their sabre-rattling would deter the DPRK”, Xinhua said, referring to North Korea’s official name.
