North Korea fires possible submarine-launched ballistic missile

North Korea fired a missile off its east coast on Wednesday that South Korea said may have been launched from a submarine.

The country fired the missile a day after it announced the resumption of talks with the United States aimed at ending its nuclear programme.

The launch was likely a reminder by the North of its weapons capability ahead of the talks with Washington, analysts said.

North Korea rejects United Nations (UN) resolutions that ban Pyongyang from using ballistic missile technology, saying they are an infringement of its right to self-defence, reports Reuters.

Talks aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme have been stalled since a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam in February ended without a deal.

South Korea’s military said it had detected the launch of one missile that flew 450 km (280 miles) and reached an altitude of 910 km (565 miles).

It was likely a Pukguksong-class weapon, as the North’s earlier submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) were known, that is under development.

South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the Pukguksong has a range of about 1,300 km (910 miles) and that the apogee of the missile fired on Wednesday may have been raised to reduce the distance it travelled.

South Korea’s military said the missile was launched eastward from the sea northeast of Wonsan, the site of one of North Korea’s military bases on the east coast.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launch, saying it was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

The National Security Council in Seoul expressed “strong concern” over the launch of what it said may have been an SLBM that came just a day after the announcement of working-level nuclear talks, according to a statement issued by the presidential Blue House.

North Korea had been developing SLBM technology before it suspended long-range missile and nuclear tests and began talks with the United States that led to the first summit between Kim and Trump in Singapore in June 2018.