North Korea trumpets test of submarine missile
Calls demonstration ‘eye-opening success’
PYONGYANG, North Korea — Under the watchful eyes of leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea says it has conducted underwater test-firing of a submarine ballistic missile, the Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday.
Under the watchful eyes of leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea says it has conducted underwater test-firing of a submarine ballistic missile, the Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday.
The test “proved and confirmed that the ballistic missile fire from the submarine fully met the requirements of the latest military science and technology,” KCNA said.
North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photos of a projectile rising from the surface and Kim smiling from a distance at what looked like a floating submarine.
Kim called the missile a “world-level strategic weapon” and an “eye-opening success,” according to KCNA.
Kim declared that his military now has a weapon capable of “striking and wiping out in any waters the hostile forces infringing upon the sovereignty and dignity of (North Korea).”
The news agency report said the missile “soared into the sky from underwater.”
The test apparently took place Friday near Sinpo South Shipyard on the east coast, the Korea Times reported.
Experts in Seoul said the North’s demonstrations and rhetoric were aimed at wresting concessions from the USA and South Korea, whose officials have recently discussed holding preliminary talks with the North to test its commitment to denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the Associated Press reported.
The last public U.S. attempt to foster the six-party process — involving China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, North Korea and the USA — collapsed in 2012 after the North launched a long-range rocket, the Korea Herald noted. Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013, and has test-fired numerous shorter-range missile since.
In January, the USA again proposed meeting with North Korea, but the bid failed to get traction, according to the Associated Press.
This week, South Korean envoy Hwang Joon-kook, after meeting with his U.S. and Chinese counterparts, said that all five parties were again ready to test North Korea’s intentions on talks, the newspaper reported.