South Korean Submarine Launches Missile Hours After North's Ballistic Missile Firing

Hours after North Korea tested two surface-to-surface missiles which landed in the East Sea, its arch-enemy Seoul proceeded with a submarine launched ballistic missile test in what appears to be a show of technological superiority.

Seoul tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) near its Agency for Defence Development (ADD) in South Chungcheong Province. Delivered to the Navy on August 13, the missile was launched from a 3,000-ton-class Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine on Wednesday.

The ADD earlier carried out several ground- and water tank-based SLBM tests, including ejection ones.

A separate successful test of a long-range air-to-surface missile was carried out. The missile will be mounted on the KAI KF-21 Boramae fighter jet.

The nuclear-armed North fired the two missiles on September 15 from its central inland area into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. The missiles were reportedly fired just after 12.30pm (03:30 GMT), flying 800 km to a maximum altitude of 60 km.