In a move that will further stoke tension between long time foes – North Korea on one hand and US, Japan and South Korea on the other, North Korea has announced that it has successfully test fired a submarine launched ballistice missile.
The new development will considerably increase the threat for the US and its allies as a submarine can reach enemy shores undetected and launch a surprise attack. It’s nearly impossible for any missile defence to counter a nuclear attack from a close distance fired from an sub merged platform.
North Korea’s official news agency KCNA reported: The test-fire aimed to “confirm the stability of the underwater ballistic launching system in the maximum depth of waters, flying kinetic feature under the vertical flight system of the ballistic missile powered by the newly developed high-power solid fuel engine, the reliability of the phased heat separation and the working accuracy of nuclear detonating device of the warhead.”
KCNA claimed that submarine-launched ballistic missile technology met all technical requirements for carrying out an underwater attack operation.
It’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un said that the submarine-launched ballistic missiles strengthen the underwater operation capability of the navy and that the military is now capable of attacking South Korean forces and the United States any time.
Kim also urged scientists and technicians to step up the nuclear program in order to launch nuclear attacks on the United States and South Korean authorities “any time when the party (Workers’ Party of Korea) is determined to do so.”
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Sunday said the DPRK fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and that the military is closely monitoring the move of DPRK forces for further provocations.
This is the second time the DPRK state-run media has announced the success of the test-fire of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. On May 9 of 2015, the KCNA had reported Kim Jong Un watched the test-fire of a newly developed submarine-launched ballistic missile and called it “a success as signal as satellite launch.”
