Some watch a television broadcasting file footage of a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile from its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, October 19, 2021. SEOUL, Nov 19 : Reuters - South Korea tested fired what looked like an underwater ballistic missile SLBM from north Korea on Tuesday.
It would be the latest step in nuclear-armed North Korea's efforts to deploy SLBMs, which are seen as a potent nuclear deterrent because they can be difficult to detect or destroy.
Analysts and officials in South Korea believe the country is developing an operational missile submarine.
Here are the SLBMs that North Korea tested or displayed, usually from submersible platforms rather than from a submarine.
As noted by the Central Center for Strategic and International Studies, North Korea has conducted five flight tests of KN - 11, as well as numerous other tests of the missile's ejection mechanism and other subsystems from 2014.
Several of the first tests appeared to fail before a successful test in 2016 was reported as one of the first.
Analysts estimated the missile's range to be about 1,200 kilometres.
North Korea has also testedfired a Pukguksong - 2, considered a land-based variant of the Pukguksong - 1.
Before Tuesday, North Korea's last SLBM test was conducted in October 2019 when a Pukguksong 1 missile was fired from an underwater platform, flying 450 km to a maximum altitude of 910 km.
The Pukguksong - 3 appears to have two stages powered by solid fuel.
The missile is a cold-launch system that uses pressurized gas to eject it from a submarine or other launch tube.
After surfacing the missile ejects its rear engine cover and ignites its main booster, CSIS says in a summary of Pukguksong - 3 in a summary of the Pukguksong - 3.
In October 2020, North Korea unveiled a previously unseen SLBM at a military parade in October which was dubbed Pukguksong- 4.
It appeared to be about the same size as the Pukkuksong - 3, and its capabilities remain unclear.
If the new SLBM is intended to be deployed, it could be used for the new conventionally mounted ballistic missile submarine that North Korea hinted at building in July 2019, analysts at the U.S. - based 38 North programme which tracks North Korea, said at the time
Another previously unseen SLBM, designated the Pukguksong - 5, was displayed in a military parade in January.
Few details regarding its capabilities could be gleaned from its outward appearance and its dimensions seemed to be comparable to earlier designs, 38 North said in a report.
These dimensional similarities indicate North Korea is still in the process of settling on a final design for its next-generation SLBM, it said.
At an unusual military show opened in Pyongyang last week, North Korea displayed a previously unseen missile next to its other BBMs.
The operational missile is smaller than its mystery SLBMs, potentially presenting an easier pathway to an operational ballistic missile submarine, analysts said. Recently, South Korea demonstrated a conventional SLBM launched from a submarine.