People watch a TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea's missiles with file image in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into waters off its eastern coast Wednesday afternoon, two days after claiming to have tested a newly developed missile in a resumption of its weapons displays after a six-month lull. The letters read "North Korea fired two ballistic missiles."
South Korea says it has carried out its first underwater-launched missile test, hours after rival North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea.
President Moon Jae-in's office said in a statement that Moon observed the test of a domestically built submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday afternoon.
It says the missile fired from a 3,000-tonne-class submarine flew a previously set distance before hitting a designated target.
The announcement followed two North Korean ballistic missile launches detected by South Korea earlier Wednesday.
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea in defiance of U.N. resolutions, the second weapons test in several days that experts say shows it’s pressing ahead with its arms build-up plans while nuclear diplomacy with the United States remains stalled.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missiles, launched from central North Korea, flew about 800 kilometers (497 miles) on an apogee of 60 kilometers (37 miles) before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
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