North Korea appeared to conduct a submarine-launched ballistic missile test on Saturday but it ended in failure with no indication that the missile successfully ejected from the vessel and took off, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The test, if confirmed, follows a test-launch in May of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which Pyongyang boasted as a success but has not been independently verified, Reuters reported.
“There is no identification of a missile taking flight and only fragments of a safety cover was observed so it is highly likely that the launch was a misfire,” a South Korean government source was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry declined to confirm the report citing its policy of not commenting on intelligence matters. The North’s May test launch of an SLBM fueled alarm in South Korea and the United States about the possibility of advances in the military capabilities of a state that is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
But a high-ranking US military official and private rocket expert questioned the authenticity of photographs released by the North of the May launch saying they were likely modified.
The missile was likely launched from a specially designed submerged barge and not from a submarine and that the North is years away from developing such technology, some experts have said.
