North Korea successfully tested a "new kind" ballistic missile launched by a submarine, state media reported Wednesday, as the country seeks increasingly advanced weapons.
Tuesday’s test, conducted near Sinpo, home to a large shipyard, came as the two Koreas embark on a possible arms race, while the dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang remains at a standstill.
The ability to launch a missile from a submarine would take North Korea’s arsenal to a new level, allowing it to send warheads well beyond the Korean peninsula.
The missile is equipped with "many advanced control and guidance technologies"according to the official North Korean press agency KCNA.
It added that it was launched from the same vessel used in its first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test five years ago, a sign that it has made little progress in its launch capabilities.
The agency did not mention the ruler Kim Jong Un, a sign that he was not present during the test.
Images published by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed the black and white missile emerging from the water with a submarine on the surface.
Analysts said the images appeared to be of one of the missiles Pyongyang displayed last week at a defense display.
According to a 2018 analysis by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the experimental spacecraft "seems capable of firing a single ballistic missile" and it must emerge every certain number of days, limiting its operating profit.
The Pentagon and analysts say the latest submarine-launched missile test, from 2019, may have been conducted from a submerged platform.
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo condemned the launch of the missile, which traveled about 590 km at a maximum height of 60 km, a South Korean source told AFP.
The White House emphasized that the action was a threat that highlights the "urgent" need for dialogue with Pyongyang.
US spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki told reporters that "remain standing" Washington’s offer to meet "anywhere, anytime, no strings attached" with Pyongyang.
Reflecting international concern over the test, diplomats announced that the UN Security Council will hold an emergency closed-door meeting on North Korea on Wednesday.
– Weapon display –
Security Council resolutions prohibit the North from developing nuclear and ballistic weapons, and the country faces numerous international sanctions.
Pyongyang has said it needs its arsenal to defend against a possible US invasion.
In recent weeks, North Korea tested a long-range cruise missile, a train-launched weapon, and what it called a hypersonic warhead, sparking international consternation.
"We’ve seen five North Korean missile launches so far in the past two months"said Soo Kim of RAND Corporation.
"Each test reveals something ‘different’ in terms of Pyongyang’s missile-launching capabilities. So the regime is adding tools of provocation, which is not good news for the United States, South Korea and Japan."added.
"Sure Kim wants attention", the analyst told AFP
In turn, South Korea tested its first SLBM in September, which placed it among an elite group of countries with that technology, and also presented a supersonic cruise missile.
Pyongyang held a rare weapons display weeks ago that included the gigantic ICBM, unveiled last year.
Opening the exhibition, the ruler Kim Jong Un blamed Washington for the tensions between the two countries and denied that his intentions were hostile.
Joseph Dempsey, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the use of smaller missiles would give Pyongyang "a more feasible delivery system", including converting its attack submarines into missile ships.
"North Korea’s ability to build large submarines remains in doubt, so this approach seems more realistic."he commented.
Kim had three meetings with former US President Donald Trump, who boasted of preventing a war but did not reach an agreement to end the North Korean nuclear program.
The talks stalled after the collapse of a summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi in 2019.
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