SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched missile 500 kilometres (around 300 miles) towards Japan on Wednesday. This launch marked what weapons analysts called a clear step forward for its nuclear strike ambitions.
According to a statement made by the South Korean military, the missile, launched from near Sinpo, a submarine base, flew 310 miles toward Japan. It also said that the test showed that North Korea was making “progress” after several failed tests of what they call submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs.
South Korean officials say that all previous such missiles North Korea had launched flew only a short distance, too brief to be considered successful. Missile experts theorized that North Korea probably conducted some of its previous tests from a submerged barge, rather than from a submarine, releasing digitally altered photographs to exaggerate its missile technology for its home audience.
North Korea’s growing missile threats have been unsettling enough for the United States and South Korea to decide to deploy the American-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, battery in the South by the end of next year despite a vehement protest from China, the New York Times reported.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan called the test “a grave threat to our country’s security” after noting that it marked the first time that a North Korean missile had penetrated his country’s air defense identification zone, where it tries to identify and locate passing aircraft for security purposes.
This test is another one of a series of launches the isolated country conducted in defiance of UN sanctions.
