North Korea has confirmed it test-fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), a day after South Korea reported the launch of what it said appeared to be an SLBM from North Korea’s east coast.
State media said on Wednesday a “new type” of SLBM had been launched, and released a series of photos.
The device had “lots of advanced control guidance technologies”, North Korea’s state news agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, adding that it was fired from the same vessel that the North used in its first SLBM test five years ago.
The report did not mention leader Kim Jong Un, suggesting he did not watch the test, Al-Jazeera reported today.
The launch, near the city of Sinpo, where Pyongyang has a major shipyard building submarines, is the fifth since September, the eighth this year, and the first test of an SLBM since 2019. The North is banned from missile tests under United Nations sanctions.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency closed-door meeting on North Korea on Wednesday at the request of the United States and the United Kingdom.
Pyongyang has been gradually improving its military arsenal since talks on denuclearisation broke down in 2019 following the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Kim and then US President Donald Trump.
Kim has accused the US and South Korea of maintaining a “hostile policy” towards the North, insisting that his country’s military development is crucial for “self-defence”.
The White House reviewed North Korean policy after Joe Biden took office in January and has been urging Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table – key envoys from the US and South Korea met in Washington, DC this week as the test was detected and Sung Kim, Biden’s special envoy on North Korea, is due to travel to Seoul to discuss the possibility of reviving diplomacy with Pyongyang.
On Tuesday, the US again stressed it remained open to diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang, but urged North Korea to refrain from further “provocations”.
Talks have faltered over the North’s demands for sanctions relief, and on Wednesday South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong called on Washington to ease sanctions if the North returned to talks.
