North's
leader Kim Jong Un did not attend launch, but sent message of 'warm
congratulations' to scientists involved.
North Korea said
on Thursday it had successfully test-fired a new submarine-launched ballistic
missile (SLBM) which was necessary to contain external threats and enhance its
self-defence, days before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States.
The launch
on Wednesday was the most provocative by North Korea since it resumed dialogue
with the US in 2018 and a reminder by Pyongyang of the weapons capability it
had been aggressively developing, including intercontinental ballistic
missiles, analysts said.
North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un "sent warm congratulations" to the defence scientists
who conducted the test, state news agency KCNA said, indicating he did not
attend the launch as he had done previously at tests of new weapons systems.
The new type
of SLBM called Pukguksong-3 was "fired in vertical mode" in the
waters off the eastern city of Wonsan, KCNA said, confirming an assessment by
South Korea's military on
Wednesday.
"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 to the DPRK and
further bolstering its military muscle for self-defence," the state news
agency said. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
The test
"had no adverse impact on the security of neighbouring countries,"
KCNA said but gave no further details.
Photos
released in the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a
black-and-white painted missile emerging and clearing the surface of the water,
then the booster rocket igniting to propel it into the sky.
Kim absence 'unusual'
A US State
Department spokeswoman called on Pyongyang to "refrain from
provocations" and to remain committed to the nuclear negotiations.
South Korea
expressed strong concern and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the
launch, saying it was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korea
rejects UN resolutions that ban it from using ballistic missile technology,
saying they are an infringement of its right to self-defence.
Talks aimed
at dismantling North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes have been stalled
since a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Vietnam in February broke down
in disagreement over nuclear disarmament.
The
Pukguksong-3 is thought to be a modification of an earlier version tested in
2015 to enhance its range, and was probably launched from a test platform
rather than an actual submarine, said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at
Kyungnam University's Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.
Leader Kim
Jong Un's absence was "extremely unusual," Kyungnam University's Kim
said, and perhaps meant to contain the political fallout that could result in
the upcoming talks falling apart before they even start.
On
Wednesday, South Korea's military said the missile flew 450km (280 miles) and
reached an altitude of 910km (565 miles) and was probably a Pukguksong-class
weapon.
South Korean
Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said the Pukguksong, or Pole Star in Korean,
would have had a range of about 1,300 km (910 miles) on a standard trajectory.
North Korea
had been developing SLBM technology before it suspended long-range missile and
nuclear tests and began talks with the US that led to the first summit between
Kim and Trump in Singapore in June 2018.
The latest
version of the Pukguksong may be the longest-range North Korean missile that
uses solid fuel and the first nuclear-capable missile to be tested since
November 2017, Ankit Panda of the US-based Federation of American Scientists
said.
North Korea
has been developing rocket engines that burn solid fuel, which has advantages
in military use compared with liquid fuel because it is stable and versatile
allowing it to be loaded in missiles until they are ready for launch.
NEWS AGENCY
