Military officials in South Korea say that North Korea launched a missile from a submarine on Saturday.
The South Korean military detected a submarine-launched missile test off the coast of the North Korean city of Sinpo.
The missile flew over 600 kilometers and reached a maximum altitude of 37 miles (60 km), suggesting it did not reach the boundary of space. According to the Associated Press, it fell back to Earth in the waters outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Just three days after its most recent missile test, North Korea launched a missile from Sunan, near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. It comes three days before the inauguration of the new President of South Korea.
North Korea has a rocket and missile program.
According to the AP, the Saturday missile test is being investigated by the U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials as a serious threatening act that harms international peace and stability.
The recent missile launches by the North are acts of serious threat that undermine peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community.
North Korea has stepped up its missile testing activities in recent months, which included its first long-range ballistic missile test since 2017. That intercontinental ballistic missile test occurred in March, reaching an altitude of 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) and traveling 680 miles (1,100 km) down range from its launch site before splashing down in the waters of Japan.
Saturday's submarine-based launch was the first since an October 2021 flight that launched a short-range missile from the 8.24 Yongung submarine, the AP reported. Yonhap described that launch as a test of a "mini-SLBM" (mini-submarine launched ballistic missile).
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