SEOUL, Oct 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — North Korea says its latest weapons test was of a submarine-launched ballistic missile that marked a “new phase” in its defence capability, just days before the resumption of stalled nuclear talks with the US.
A proven submarine-based missile capability would take the North’s arsenal to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a second-strike capability in the event of an attack on its military bases.
“The new-type ballistic missile was fired in vertical mode” on Wednesday in the waters off Wonsan Bay, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, identifying the weapon as a Pukguksong-3.
“The successful new-type SLBM test-firing comes to be of great significance as it ushered in a new phase in containing the outside forces’ threat,” it added.
The North’s leader Kim Jong Un sent “warm congratulations” to research units involved in the launch.
Kim has personally supervised recent land-based missile tests.
Photos carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a black and white missile emerging from the water and appearing to shoot into the sky.
Tokyo said a part of Wednesday’s missile landed in waters within Japan’s exclusive economic zone — a 200-kilometre band around Japanese territory.
Washington voiced alarm, with a State Department spokesperson calling on Pyongyang “to refrain from provocations” and “remain engaged in substantive and sustained negotiations” aimed at bringing stability and denuclearisation.
North Korea is banned from ballistic missile launches by United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The launch came ahead of planned resumption of working-level talks between Pyongyang and Washington which is slated for later this week in an undisclosed location.
Negotiations have been deadlocked since a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in February ended without a deal.
The two agreed to restart dialogue during an impromptu meeting at the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas in June, but those talks have yet to materialise.
Pyongyang also carried out several weapons tests since the meeting that have been downplayed by Trump, who dismissed them as “small” and insisted his personal ties with Kim remained good. — NNN-AGENCIES
