DPRK announces successful test of new ballistic missile

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced it has conducted a successful underwater test-fire of strategic submarine ballistic missile and the top leader Kim Jong Un guided the test-fire, the official KCNA news agency reported Sunday.

The test-fire 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."

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

Kim said that the 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 any time.

He also urged 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."

But the state media did not give the date of the test-fire.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Saturday said the DPRK fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula and that the military is closely monitoring the move of DPRK forces for further provocations.

This is the second time the DPRK state-run media has announced the success of the test-fire of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. On May 9 of 2015, the KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un watched the test-fire of a newly developed submarine-launched ballistic missile and called it "a success as signal as satellite launch."