North Korea said it test fired a new type of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) Wednesday, a day after Pyongyang and Washington agreed to resume nuclear talks.
The missile was launched from near Wonsan, a city of North Korea’s east coast on Wednesday morning and flew toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan,
It covered the distance of 450 kilometers (280 miles) before landing in waters off Japan. It reached an altitude of 910 kilometers (565 miles).
The missile, which was able to carry a nuclear weapon, was the North’s 11th test this year. But this one, fired from a platform at sea, was capable of being launched from a submarine.
Being submarine-capable is important as it means North Korea could launch missiles far outside its territory.
However, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Thursday there was “no adverse impact on the security of neighbouring countries”.
Shortly after the launch, a US official said it was launced from a barge- like platform designed to test underwater launches and not a submarine which North Korea has never demonstrate the ability to fire from.
The latest US assessment says that the missile was not underwater when it was launched from the barge.
