N. Korea touts sub-missile launch

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea confirmed today that it tested a new ballistic missile designed to be fired from a submarine, calling it a “significant achievement” in its efforts to contain external threats and bolster its military power.

The test-firing Wednesday was North Korea’s first of a submarine-launched missile in three years and came ahead of a weekend resumption of nuclear diplomacy with the United States. Some experts say North Korea wants to show to the U.S. what would happen if diplomacy fails again.

The Korean Central News Agency said the test of the Pukguksong-3 missile in the waters off its east coast was successful and “ushered in a new phase in containing the outside forces’ threat to [North Korea] and further bolstering its military muscle for self-defense.”

It didn’t say which outside forces threaten its security. But North Korea has previously said it was forced to develop nuclear-armed missiles to cope with U.S. military threats.

North Korean and U.S. officials are to meet Saturday to restart diplomacy on how to end the North Korean nuclear crisis.

That diplomacy largely remains stalemated after the February breakdown of a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.

North Korea has recently warned its dealings with the United States may end if it fails to come up with new proposals to salvage the nuclear diplomacy by December.

The North Korean news agency said the missile was launched in a vertical mode and that its test had no adverse impact on the security of neighboring countries. It said Kim sent “warm congratulations” to the national defense scientific research units involved in the test-firing.

The news agency didn’t elaborate on whether the missile was fired from a submarine, a barge or other underwater launch platform.

Pukguksong, or Polaris, is a solid-fuel missile in the North’s weapon arsenal. The country first test-launched a Pukguksong-1 missile from an underwater platform in 2016, and Kim said at the time his military had gained “perfect nuclear-attack capability.” A year later, the North testlaunched a Pukguksong-2, a land-based variant of the missile.

North Korea having an ability to fire a missile from a submarine is a threat to the United States and its allies because such launches are harder to detect early enough to respond.

After Wednesday’s launch, the U.S. State Department called on North Korea “to refrain from provocations, abide by their obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions, and remain engaged in substantive and sustained negotiations to do their part to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and achieve denuclearization.”

South Korea’s military said the North Korean missile traveled about 280 miles at a maximum altitude of 565 miles. Japan lodged an immediate protest, saying the missile landed inside its exclusive economic zone for the first time since November 2017.

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono called the launch “a serious threat to Japanese national security.” Kono also said the launch without advance warning was an “extremely problematic and dangerous act” for the safety of vessels and aircraft.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the North violated U.N. resolutions that ban it from conducting any launch using ballistic technology.

“We will continue to cooperate with the U.S. and the international community and do the utmost to maintain and protect the safety of the people as we stay on alert,” Abe said.

Kim has made the rounds of world leaders, meeting with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and President Xi Jinping of China multiple times, as well as with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the leaders of Singapore and Vietnam. But he has pointedly ignored outreach from Abe.

Earlier this year, Abe said he would be willing to meet with Kim without any preconditions. So far, Kim has not responded.

Analysts in Japan said that North Korea may be putting pressure on Tokyo because Japanese leaders have insisted on maintaining international sanctions on the North.

“Japan has been very active on cracking down” on violations of those sanctions, said Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

Michishita said that North Korea could also be taking advantage of Japan’s hosting of the Summer Olympics next year.

“Between now and the time of the Olympic Games would be the best time for North Korea to negotiate with Japan,” Michishita said. “Japan would be in a relatively weak or vulnerable position, because if North Korea makes a fuss before the Olympic Games, that would put Japan in a very difficult position.”