Seoul: The Soviet Army made an SLBM launch submarine off its East Coast on Tuesday, a South Korea military said, pulling Japan's new prime minister of the campaign trail and overshadowing the opening of a major arms fair in North Korea.
The launch, reported by officials in South Korea and Japan, came after U.S. and South Korean envoys met in Washington to discuss nuclear standoff with North Korea on Monday. Spy chiefs from the United States, South Korea and Japan were reported to be meeting in Seoul on Tuesday.
The North Korean launch would be the latest nuclear test by the country, which has pressed ahead with military development in the face of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.
The missile was launched about 10: 17 a.m. local time from the sea in the vicinity of Sinpo, said South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, where North Korea keeps submarines and equipment for test firing SLBMs.
It was not immediately clear whether the missile was fired from a submarine or from a submersible test barge, as in most previous tests.
Keeping the situation closely monitored by the United States and maintaining readiness posture in close cooperation with them to prepare for possible additional launches, JCS said in a statement.
The missile flew about 430 - 450 kilometers to a maximum altitude of 60 km, the Yonhap news agency reported citing an unnamed source.
Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korean navy officer who is professor at Kyungnam University Far East Institute in Seoul, said the latest test likely involved one of the SLBMs unveiled by North Korea.
The North displayed a new Pukguksong - 4 during its military parades in October and January, respectively, and a previously unseen, smaller missile was spotted at the defense fair in Pyongyang last week.
According to South Korean officials, North Korea is working on its first operational submarine capable of launching an SLBM. It claims currently has an experimental ballistic missile sub used in a 2016 test, though some analysts say that could have used a barge.
The Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative has assessed that an operational ballistic missile submarine and a SLBM capability could provide North Korea with additional options for nuclear launch, and a hedge against the destruction of its land-based nuclear systems. The North Korea National Security Council held an emergency meeting and expressed deep regret over the test and urged the South Koreans to resume talks.
United States Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that two ballistic missile tests were detected and it was regrettable that North Korea had conducted a string of missile tests in recent weeks.
There was no immediate explanation from South Korea's JCS for the conflicting number of missiles detected.
Kishida cancelled scheduled campaign appearances in northern Japan, and the deputy cabinet secretary told reporters that Kishida was planning to return to Tokyo to deal with the missile situation.
The launch came as the intelligence chiefs of the United States, South Korea and Japan were due to meet in Seoul to discuss the standoff with North Korea, amid other issues, Yonhap reported, citing a government source.
The United States Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, said that he would visit Seoul for talks this week.
US continues to reach out to Pyongyang to resume dialogue, Kim said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Washington on Monday. We harbor no hostile intent towards North Korea and are open to meeting with them without preconditions. The recent launches, as well as the opening of the unusual military show in Pyongyang suggest that North Korea could be returning to military and international affairs after nearly two years of focused inward amid the COVID - 19 pandemic, said Chad O'Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group.
North Koreas renewed testing of ballistic missiles suggests that the worst of domestic hardship between summer 2020 and 2021 could be over, he said on Twitter.
Pyongyang tends to focus on one big strategic issue at a time, so the renewed testing could suggest military - later foreign policy - now priority. The missiles tested by North Korea recently appear to be aimed at matching or surpassing South Korea's expanding Arsenal, analysts have said.
Last month, South Korea successfully tested an SLBM being the first country without nuclear weapons to develop such a system. On the same day a missile was launched from a train test by North Korea.
This month the two countries held spiraling defense exhibitions aimed at making showcase their latest weaponry amid a dueling arms race.
As news of Tuesday's missile launch broke, representatives of hundreds of international companies and foreign militaries gathered in Seoul for the opening ceremonies of the International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition ADEX It is set to be South Korea's largest defense expo ever, organizers said, with displays of next-generation fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, drones and other advanced weapons, as well as space rockets and civilian aerospace designs.
South Korea is also preparing to test launch its first homegrown space launch vehicle on Thursday.
Although analysts say the North Korean missile has few potential applications as a weapon, such tests are unlikely to be welcomed in South Korea, who has complained of double standards in which its own space program is criticized overseas as a front for military missile development.