N Korea confirms test of ‘new type’ submarine-launched missile

North Korea has confirmed it test-fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), a day after South Korea reported the launch of what it said appeared to be an SLBM from North Korea’s east coast.

State media said on Wednesday a “new type” of SLBM had been launched, releasing a series of photos of the missile.

The device had “lots of advanced control guidance technologies”, North Korea’s state news agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, adding that it was fired from the same vessel that the North used in its first SLBM test five years ago.

The report did not mention leader Kim Jong Un, suggesting he did not watch the test.

The launch near the city of Sinpo, where Pyongyang has a major naval base, is the eighth this year and the first test of an SLBM since 2019. The North is banned from missile tests under United Nations sanctions.

The UN Security Council has called an emergency meeting on North Korea for Wednesday, unnamed diplomats told the Agence France Presse news agency.

A combination of pictures shows a new submarine-launched ballistic missile during a test in this undated photo released on October 19, 2021 by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) [KCNA via Reuters]

The White House urged North Korea to refrain from further “provocations”, with spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying that the US remained open to engaging diplomatically with North Korea over its weapons programmes.

Talks have been stalled since a summit between Kim and then US President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.