North Korea appears to have fired a ballistic missile from a submarine, according to South Korean defense officials, who gave few details on what appears to be the latest effort by Pyongyang to build its military arsenal. The Saturday evening launch took place off North Korea’s east coast and it is still unclear where the missile landed. The missile appears to have flown about 19 miles, far short of the 186 miles that is typical for this kind of munition.
This is hardly the first time North Korea has shown interest in submarine-based missiles. Pyongyang had carried out a similar test on Christmas, but that was largely seen as a failure. If the country does manage to perfect the submarine-based technology it would mark a new threat because “mastering the ability to fire missiles from submerged vessels would make it harder for outsiders to detect what North Korea is doing before it launches, giving it the potential to surprise its enemies,” notes the Associated Press. Still, South Korean officials have said Pyongyang “is probably years away from fielding a missile-armed submarine,” reports the New York Times.
The State Department did not comment on the reports but did note that “launches using ballistic missile technology are a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.” A U.S. official tells CNN that the test “was provocative but not a threat to the U.S. and the missile was fired away from South Korea and Japan.”
