SLBM Deployment

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Seoul's defense ministry has announced prediction that North Korea could deploy submarine-launched ballistic missiles in one to three years, which is earlier than initially expected. Here’s more on the latest developments.

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After test-launching submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) last Wednesday, North Korea hailed the event as a great success. It boasted about the high-angle launch requiring advanced skills and also bragged about having secured technologies for rocket separation and reentry into the atmosphere.

[Soundbite] Korean Central TV (N. Korea/Aug. 25) : "After displaying speedy development, we again succeeded in a more advanced-level underwater ballistic missile launch today."

South Korea's Defense Ministry has assessed that the SLBM launch carried out from a high angle toward the East Sea appears to have succeeded with a maximum altitude of over 500 kilometers and a range of approximately 500 kilometers as well. The ministry said that North Korea will likely accelerate efforts to make the SLBMs combat ready, and forecast the deployoment to take place in 1 to 3 years. That's a bit sooner than its previous forecast of 2 to 3 years.

[Soundbite] Han Min-koo(Defense Minister) : "The North will need to conduct a few more launches to perfect the technology. But ommitting that process, it could just announce within this year that it has deployed the missiles. That's how we see it."

The defense ministry said the North's enhancement in underwater launch capabilities poses a direct threat to South Korea and even threatens the U.S. mainland.