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Seoul / AFP
North Korea on Wednesday test-fired a submarine-launched missile 500 kilometres (around 300 miles) towards Japan, marking what weapons analysts called a clear step forward for its nuclear strike ambitions.
The flight distance, which was tracked by South Korea’s military Joint Chiefs of Staff, far exceeded any previous SLBM tests, suggesting significant progress in technical prowess.
A proven SLBM system would take North Korea’s nuclear strike threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “second-strike” capability in the event of an attack on its military bases.
“While there are still a lot of questions about the details, this test certainly seems to have been successful,” said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California.
“This system is still in development, but North Korea is clearly making progress,” Lewis said.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying Wednesday’s launch had been made at an acute angle to limit the missile’s range. If fired at the optimum angle, it could cover more than 1,000km, the source said.
Current UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology, but Pyongyang has continued to carry out numerous launches following its fourth nuclear test in January.
South Korea has responded by agreeing to deploy a sophisticated US anti-missile system—known as THAAD—a move that has seriously strained relations with North Korea’s main diplomatic ally, China.
Lewis noted that an SLBM was an “effective countermeasure” to THAAD, and other missile systems with forward-looking radars, since the submarine can launch the missile from behind the radar.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday’s missile breached his country’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and condemned what he called an “unforgivable, reckless act.”
Earlier this month, North Korea fired a land-launched ballistic missile directly into Japanese-controlled waters for the first time, drawing an outraged response from Tokyo.
The latest test came just days after North Korea threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against South Korean and US forces who kicked off their annual “Ulchi Freedom” military drill on Monday.
Seoul and Washington insist such joint exercises are purely defensive in nature, but Pyongyang views them as willfully provocative.