N. Korea says successfully test-fired underwater ballistic missile

North Korea announced Saturday the successful test-firing of a submarine-based ballistic missile – a technology that would offer the nuclear-armed state a survivable second-strike nuclear capability. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who personally oversaw the test, hailed the newly developed missile as a “world-level strategic weapon,” according to a report by the official KCNA news agency. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the test, which would mark a major breakthrough for the North’s missile programme and violate UN resolutions prohibiting Pyongyang from conducting ballistic missile tests.

[The Korean military now possesses a] world-level strategic weapon capable of striking and wiping out in any waters the hostile forces infringing upon [N. Korea’s] sovereignty and dignity.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un

Development of a submarine-launched missile capability would take the North Korean nuclear threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula. Kim described the test as an “eye-opening success” on a par with North Korea’s successful launch of a satellite into orbit in 2012. The announcement of the test came a day after the Korean People’s Army (KPA) warned that it was prepared to fire on sight, without warning, at South Korean naval vessels it accused of violating their disputed Yellow Sea border.

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