“North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are not imaginary threats any longer, but they’re now becoming real threats”, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said of the launch.
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In the footage running for one minute and 47 seconds, the broadcaster showed the launch of the missile from various angles. The South Korean government and experts said the launch showed technical progress in the North’s SLBM program.
Two submarine-launched ballistic missiles have exploded in midair this year after flying fewer than 18 miles.
The U.S.is drafting a press statement, and the UNSC members will consider the statement, Ibrahim said.
The launch is the sixth SLBM test from North Korea since its first attempt in May 2015 and the third such launch this year.
Member countries of the UNSC agreed to push for the press statement after the council held an emergency meeting to discuss North Korea’s latest SLBM launch at the request of South Korea, the USA and Japan, the officials who attended the close-door meeting said.
“A test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile was successfully conducted under the guidance of supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) Kim Jong Un“, the North’s official KCNA news agency said.
Its 500-kilometer (310-mile) flight puts all of South Korea within its range if it is fired near the two countries’ border.
“Through the test results [North Korea] has become a premier military power with ideal nuclear strike capability”, Kim reportedly said.
Kim added that the “US vicious nuclear threat and blackmail against the DPRK (North Korea) only resulted in bolstering up its nuclear attack capability hour by hour”, according to KCNA.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying Wednesday’s launch had been made at an acute angle to limit the missile’s range.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said on its website, 38 North, that Pyongyang still faces significant technological challenges including building a new class of submarine to carry the missile.
In Yun’s separate bilateral talks with Wang that day, the two sides repeated their positions on the deployment of the USA -led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, system in South Korea, which Beijing has opposed.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch an “impermissible and outrageous act” that poses a grave threat to Japan.
Wednesday’s launch came two days after the US and South Korea began their 12-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises, prompting North Korean threats of retaliation for the military drills, which it views as an invasion rehearsal.
Missiles of such capability could also potentially strike parts of Japan, including USA military bases on the island of Okinawa, considering the operational range of North Korea’s Sinpo-class submarines, said analyst Kim Dong-yub at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
The Foreign Ministry of China, North Korea’s last major ally, called for all sides to avoid actions that increase tensions.
They are concerned that the test will only consolidate South Korea’s decision on the THAAD deployment and give Japan more reasons to beef up its military capabilities.
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The American-led U.N. Command in South Korea on Tuesday accused North Korea of planting land mines near a truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.
