A test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile is seen in this undated photo.
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“The test-fire of the SLBM today is the success of all successes and the victory of all victories”, Kim was quoted as saying.
North Korea has ordered its ambassador in London to return home over the scandal around his deputy s alleged defection to South Korea.
KCNA also boasted that the country had acquired technology for a SLBM warhead to re-enter the atmosphere, reporting the “working accuracy of the warhead in the re-entry section” had been achieved.
North Korean state television on Thursday showed video clips of the launch of a missile from underwater at dawn, and still photographs of Kim on the dock at a port as a large crane unloaded an object onto a submarine.
The launch coincided with the start of annual drills between the South Korean and American militaries, exercises that always elicit an angry reaction from the North, which views them as a pretext for an invasion.
The UN Security Council agreed to consider adopting a statement condemning the Wednesday launch following a closed-door emergency meeting later in the day.
“There was a general sense of condemnation by most members of the council”, Ramlan Bin Ibrahim, Malaysia’s ambassador to the United Nations and the current council president, told reporters after the closed session.
Such images are used in North Korean propaganda in an effort to convince the populace, who have little, if any, access to outside information, that their impoverished and technologically backward country is strong and standing up to a United States that, the state media say, is trying to destroy North Korea.
Ban said the latest launch is a clear violation of UNSC resolutions and it hinders peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.
He called on the North to take necessary measures to ease tensions and come back to the negotiating table for its denuclearization. She said the missile launch marked the latest in an “accelerating campaign” of missile tests that violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“The U.S. commitment to the defense of our allies including the Republic of Korea and Japan in the face of these threats remains ironclad”, she said.
The 300-mile range of the launch is further than any previous submarine-launched test.
The ballistic missile flew about 500 km and fell into the waters inside Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, said South Korean local media. “Those threats are coming closer each moment”.
The official further said, “The missile soared as much as it flew”. Its longer distance puts all of South Korea within its range if it is fired near the border.
A North Korean submarine test-launched a ballistic missile in the East China Sea on Wednesday as the US and South Korean militaries were conducting joint drills that Pyongyang has called a threat.
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Information for this article was contributed by Hyung-jin Kim, Kim Tong-hyung and Louise Watt of The Associated Press.
