On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off its east coast, South Korea’s military said, pulling Japan’s new prime minister off the campaign trail in Seoul.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched at about 10:17 AM from the sea near Sinpo, where North Korea keeps submarines and equipment for the test firing SLBMs.
The US Condemns the launch
The U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command condemned the launch and called it destabilizing reports The Reuters. Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Pyongyang to ban the ballistic missile launches with Security Council resolutions. However, he also judged it as no threat to the United States or its allies.
Deputy U.N. representative Farhan Haq said Guterres had called for North Korea to resume its diplomatic efforts for peace swiftly. He also urged North Korea to do the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has persisted with military development despite international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
As in most previous tests, it was not immediately clear if the missile was fired from a submarine or a submersible test barge. A military source said it flew about 430 km to 450 km (267 to 280 miles) to a maximum altitude of 60 km (37 miles).
North Korea SLBM test in 2019
North Korea conducted its last SLBM test in October 2019, when a Pukguksong-3 missile was fired from an underwater platform. That missile flew 450 km to a maximum altitude of 910 km.
ON TUESDAY, the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, held the talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts. The State Department said that he called on North Korea to refrain from these tactics to provoke and engage in sustained dialogue.
The Hermit Kingdom displayed new Pukguksong-4 and Pukguksong-5 SLBMs at military parades in October and January, respectively, and a previously unseen, smaller missile was spotted at a defense fair last week in Pyongyang.
International standoff
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said two ballistic missiles had been detected and called North Korea’s string of missile tests in recent weeks regrettable.
昨今の北朝鮮による核ミサイル関連技術の著しい発展は、我が国と地域の安全保障にとって、見過ごすことができないものです。こうした状況に備え、私から既に国家安全保障戦略等の改定を指示しており、いわゆる敵基地攻撃能力の保有も含め、あらゆる選択肢を検討するよう、本日改めて確認いたしました。 https://t.co/TK96sjmrAL
— 岸田文雄 (@kishida230) October 19, 2021
Chad O’Carroll, a North Korean expert with the Korea Risk Group, said on Twitter that the recent North Korean activity suggested it may be looking again to military and world affairs after nearly two years of focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.
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