SEOUL — North Korea fired a short-range submarine-launched ballistic missile off the east coast on Saturday, hours after the United States warned it could conduct a nuclear test this month.
The missile, the first of its kind to be tested since October, was launched from waters near the coastal town of Sinpo and flew 372 miles, the South Korean military said. It was the North’s 15th missile test this year, a fast pace by recent standards, and the second this week, taking place three days before South Korea’s elected president Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to take office.
Analysts have warned that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un is likely to order more weapons tests in the coming weeks, develop the north’s missile and nuclear technology and exert potential diplomatic influence over Mr Yoon and President Biden. who plan to meet later this month in Seoul.
On Friday, Jalina Porter, a US State Department spokeswoman, said North Korea is preparing at its underground nuclear test site and could be ready to conduct its seventh nuclear test “as early as this month.”
Mr. Yoon is expected to take an aggressive stance on relations with the North compared to outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, who brokered Mr. Kim’s ultimately failed talks with Donald J. Trump when he was president.
During the South Korean election campaign, Mr Yoon called for stronger enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. Multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from developing and testing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technology.
North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile program is considered a particularly acute threat because it could increase the range of the country’s nuclear arsenal. The use of submarine-launched missiles is also more difficult to detect in advance. They are among a series of new weapons that Mr. Kim has instructed his government to develop.
South Korean defense officials said the missile fired on Saturday appeared to have been launched from a real submarine, unlike some tested in the past, which were believed to have been fired from underwater platforms. North Korea has only one known submarine capable of launching a ballistic missile, with a single launch tube, but the South Korean military says it has developed a new one with greater capabilities.
North Korea has a naval base at Sinpo, home to its submarine-launched ballistic missile program.
In March, the North conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017, ending a moratorium on such tests that Mr Kim announced before embarking on his direct diplomacy with Mr Trump. Those talks stalled in 2019 as the two sides failed to agree on curtailing the North’s nuclear program or easing international sanctions.
At a military parade last month in Pyongyang, the capital of the north, Mr Kim vowed to expand the country’s nuclear arsenal “at the fastest possible speed” while asking North Koreans to brace themselves for a confrontation with external enemies “for a long period of time.”
