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from: HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG, Associated Press
Posted: Oct 19, 2021 / 5:46 PM CDT
Updated: 10/19/2021 / 5:46 PM CDT
ADDED FILE FOOTAGE – A woman walks past a television screen on a news bulletin in Tokyo on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, showing file footage from a North Korean missile. North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday in a sequel to its recent weapons tests, the South Korean and Japanese military said hours after the US reiterated its offer to resume diplomacy over the north’s nuclear weapons program. (AP Photo / Koji Sasahara)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea announced Wednesday that it had tested a newly developed missile that is scheduled to be launched from a submarine.
Test Tuesday was the fifth missile launch since September and came as North Korea increased pressure on Washington and Seoul to abandon what Pyongyang sees as enemy police forces, such as joint military exercises between the US and South Korea and international sanctions against the North.
North Korea’s state-owned Korean Central News Agency said the latest test will “go a long way in upgrading the country’s defense technology to a high level and making our navy more operational underwater.” The new missile introduced advanced control technology, including flank mobility and sliding jump mobility.
The northern neighbors said Tuesday they discovered the northern missile launch and said the weapon landed in the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan. Describing the missile as a short-range ballistic missile launched by submarines, the South Korean military said it launched from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, where North Korea has a large shipyard that builds submarines.
KCNA said it launched Tuesday from “the same 8.24 Yongung ship,” a submarine that North Korea used to conduct its first submarine-launched strategic ballistic missile test in 2016. This suggests that Tuesday’s test was also an underwater missile launch.
The start on Tuesday is North Korea’s most famous weapons test since US President Joe Biden took office in January. The Biden government has repeatedly stated that it is ready to resume nuclear diplomacy with North Korea “anywhere, anytime” without preconditions. The North has so far rejected such advances, stating that US hostility remains unchanged.
North Korea has been pushing hard for years to gain the ability to fire nuclear-armed missiles from submarines, the next key element in an arsenal that includes a wide variety of weapons, including those with the potential to reach American soil.
The acquisition of anti-submarine missiles would be a worrying development as it would make it difficult for rivals in the north to detect launches and allow the country to retaliate. However, experts say it would take years, vast amounts of resources, and major technological advances for the heavily sanctioned nation to build at least several submarines that could cruise the seas quietly and reliably launch attacks.
North Korea last tested a ballistic missile launched from a submarine in October 2019.
The US-North Korea nuclear negotiations have stalled for more than two years due to disagreements over easing crippling US-led sanctions against North Korea in exchange for denuclearization moves by the North.
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