DPRK announces firing of submarine-launched ballistic missile

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced that it has successfully launched a ballistic missile from a submarine, the official KCNA news agency reported Sunday.

DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un guided the test, the KCNA reported.

The test is aimed to "confirm the stability of the underwater ballistic launching system in the maximum depth of waters, flying kinetic feature under the vertical flight system of the ballistic missile powered by the newly developed high-power solid fuel engine, the reliability of the phased heat separation and the working accuracy of nuclear detonating device of the warhead," said the KCNA.

The launch was "an eye-opening success" and Kim was satisfied with the result, it said. The DPRK-style submarine-launched ballistic missile technology met all technical requirements for carrying out an underwater attack operation, it said.

Kim said that submarine-launched ballistic missiles strengthen the underwater operation capability of the navy and that the military is now capable of attacking South Korean forces and the United States at any time.

He also urged DPRK scientists and technicians to step up the nuclear program in order to launch nuclear attacks on the United States and South Korean authorities "any time when the party (Workers' Party of Korea) is determined to do so."

The KCNA did not give the date of the test.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday that the DPRK fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and that the military was closely monitoring the move of DPRK forces.

This is the second time the DPRK has announced the successful firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. On May 9, 2015, the KCNA reported that Kim watched the test-firing of a newly developed submarine-launched ballistic missile and called it "a success."

France said that the launch, if confirmed, would be a new violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

"We call on the international community to adopt a firm and united reaction so that North Korea stops its provocations," a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"In particular, France calls on the European Union to unilaterally adopt additional sanctions." he said.

Harsher than ever sanctions on the DPRK were adopted early March by the UN Security Council over the country's fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch, which was condemned as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, in February.

DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, in a rare interview with The Associated Press at the UN headquarters in New York on Saturday, said that it is the United States that drove his country to the development of nuclear weapons for self-defense.

"If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the entire world as well," he said.

He urged the United States to stop military exercises in the Korean Peninsula. In return, the DPRK would cease its nuclear testing, he said.
Source: XINHUA