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DPRK on Wednesday fired a ballistic missile from a submarine into the sea in an apparent protest against the start of annual South Korea-U.S. military drills, Seoul's military said.
DPRK launched the ballistic missile from a submarine at around 5.30am. The missile fired from a submarine off the eastern coastal town of Sinpo flew about 500 kilometers, the longest flight of a DPRK’s submarine-launched missile, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
It is the latest in a series of ballistic missile launches by DPRK in defiance of UN resolutions against the communist regime’s use of such military technology. It also appears to be linked to annual US-South Korean military exercises, which usually generates a belligerent response from Pyongyang.
DPRK threatened Monday to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike in protest of the exercises.
On Tuesday, DPRK called on the UN Security Council in New York to hold a meeting to discuss “the aggressive joint military exercise,” Ja Song-nam, DPRK’s ambassador to the UN, said in a letter to the council.
He called the joint exercise “a grave military provocation aimed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack” against DPRK.
Yonhap reported Tuesday that DPRK’s soldiers in recent weeks had laid fresh landmines in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between DPRK and South Korea.
The activity was noted by observers at the DMZ village of Panmunjom. The northern soldiers could be seen laying the mines on their side of the still-contested border, the news agency said, citing government sources.
U.S. Strategic Command said it had tracked the DPRK’s submarine launch of the presumed KN-11 missile over and into the Sea of Japan.
The Japanese government on Wednesday strongly condemned the test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) , with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe blasting the move as being a unforgivable act.
Abe described the launch of the SLBM as a grave threat to security and an unforgivable act. "It is a grave threat to Japan's security and an unforgivable act to regional stability and peace," Abe told a press briefing.Outside experts say the North doesn't yet have a reliable long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. but they acknowledge the North has been making steady progress on its weapons programs and could one day acquire such a weapon.
Wednesday's launch comes two days after the United States and South Korea began their 12-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises, prompting DPRK’s threats of retaliation.
The South Korean military statement said it considers the DPRK’s missile launch as an "armed protest" against the military drills and a challenge to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
(APD)
