Admiral Jung Ho-sub hinted that there is a possibility Pyongyang could attempt to infiltrate South Korea using submarines as tensions run high in the region, following the ballistic missiles launch by the North.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hailed the latest test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile as the “success of all successes”, state media said Thursday, as the United Nations gears up to condemn the event that would likely beef up the country’s nuclear capabilities.
NORTH Korea leader Kim Jong-Un looks thrilled as he watches the apparent firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. Experts said that had the altitude been adjusted to the normal level, the SLBM could have flown as far as 2,000 kilometers, far enough to reach USA military bases in Okinawa.
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.
Kim claimed the weapon, which flew around 300 miles, puts North Korea at the “front rank” of nuclear military powers.
DPRK is the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea fired two missiles from submarines earlier this year, but South Korean defense officials believe they exploded in midair after flying less than 30 kilometers (18 miles). Before the launch, North Korea warned that the joint military exercises were pushing the Korean Peninsula “to the brink of a war” and asked for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
North Korea’s SLBM launch, the third one this year, appears to have been Pyongyang’s most successful one to date.
Takesada said North Korea needs to have at least four SLBM-armed submarines to successfully deploy SLBMs.
In March, Kim said that a nuclear warhead test and a test-fire of ballistic missiles able to carry nuclear warheads will be conducted in a short time. The test, which brought immediate condemnation from the United States and North Korea’s neighbors, sent a “Pukguksong” missile soaring from a submerged position off the North’s port city of Sinpo.
A cyclists rides past national flags flown to mark the celebration of the “Military First” holiday in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Thursday.
Wednesday’s launch came two days after the USA and South Korea began military exercises, prompting North Korean threats of retaliation for the military drills, which it views as an invasion rehearsal.
Encouraged by the success of Wednesday’s test, Kim has called on individuals involved in national defense science “to put increased spurs to mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles” in order to deal with the possibility of an “unpredicted total war and nuclear war with the USA imperialists”.
South Korea’s military condemned the launch but acknowledged it was an improvement over previous tests of similar missiles.
The United States says it has requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council along with Japan on the latest North Korean missile launch.
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Washington and Seoul say the military exercises North Korea opposes are defensive in nature.
