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North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile From Submarine, South Says | North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile From Submarine, South Says |
(about 13 hours later) | |
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired what was believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast on Saturday, according to the South Korean military. | |
The missile flew only 19 miles, a flight too short to be called a successful launch, South Korea’s Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Still, the test provided the latest evidence that North Korea was building a submarine-launched ballistic missile in defiance of a United Nations ban on the country for developing such weapons. | |
The United States’ North American Aerospace Defense Command also confirmed the North Korean missile launch from a submarine, saying it did not pose a threat to North America. | |
On Sunday, North Korea claimed that it had successfully conducted the missile test. The country’s official news agency said the test was to confirm the stability of a solid-fuel ballistic missile launched from a submarine and “the working accuracy of a nuclear detonating device of a warhead” at a designated altitude. | |
North Korea “is now capable of hitting the heads of South Korean puppet forces and the U.S. imperialists anytime as it pleases, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, was quoted as saying while watching the launch, according to the state news agency. | |
The test took place at 6:30 p.m. in waters northeast of the port city of Sinpo, South Korea’s statement said. North Korea’s naval base at Sinpo is a center for the isolated country’s efforts to develop a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which would add to the range, secrecy and flexibility of its missile systems. | |
In November, the South’s intelligence service said that North Korea had conducted a test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile that ended in failure. On Saturday, the South Korean military said that North Korea tried the same test in December but again failed. | |
On April 15, the North carried out what American and South Korean officials said was a failed launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Musudan. |