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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan firmly protests North Korea's ballistic missile launches. Abe told reporters on Wednesday morning that North Korea had fired two ballistic missiles earlier in the day. He said Japan firmly protests and condemns the launches, which violate UN Security Council resolutions. Abe said the government will work with the United States and the international community under heightened security to ensure the safety of the Japanese people. After Abe spoke to reporters, the government convened a meeting of the National Security Council, attended by Abe, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, and Defense Minister Taro Kono. They are...

SEOUL, South Korea North Korea fired projectiles (Update: Apparently SLBM launch out of Wonsan) toward its eastern sea (Sea of Japan Wednesday) , South Korea's military and Japan's government said, in an apparent display of its expanding military capabilities ahead of planned nuclear negotiations with the United States this weekend. .... excerpt

US researchers say satellite images suggest North Korea may be preparing to deploy a ballistic missile-capable submarine. Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and satellite operator Planet Labs have told NHK that they have analyzed images of a shipyard in the eastern port city of Sinpo. On September 3 at least 13 pillar-like objects could be seen along a quay, with some vehicles moving around. Images taken on September 12 show the construction of a large structure straddling the quay and the water. The most recent images from Thursday, show the structure covering almost the entire quay. The...

Next week, Democrats in Congress will have a golden opportunity to take a strong and principled stand against President Trump’s dangerous moves to resurrect the nuclear arms race. So far, Trump has set a treacherous course for U.S. nuclear policy. He is tearing down arms control treaties that were carefully constructed over decades with bipartisan support. He is building new weapons at tremendous cost that will increase nuclear threats to the world. He has impulsively threatened nations (North Korea) with nuclear attack and has pushed others (Iran) to resume nuclear activities that they had ended. Trump has been in office...

New photos taken of a North Korean shipyard suggest the country could be building a submarine that could potentially be capable of launching a nuclear missile, a report early Tuesday said. The photos show vessels and cranes that could be used to haul a missile out to sea for launch, according to experts at a Washington-based think tank, NBC News reported. The satellite photos seem to confirm North Korean state media reports from July about a newly built submarine. “There is no conclusive evidence at the moment that this is a near-term certainty,” an expert said of a possible missile test. Once a...

US and Hong Kong-based media agencies have reported that China has tested a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capable of a range of around 9,000km. The weapon is expected to significantly improve China's nuclear strike capabilities. In comparison, the Indian Navy's INS Arihant, which completed its first deterrent patrol recently, is armed with missiles with a range of 750km and will only get the 3,500km-range K-4 missiles in the future. The South China Morning Post reported China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) had tested the new missile, dubbed the JL-3, in the Yellow Sea in November. The Washington Free Beacon,...

North Korea carried out failed SLBM engine test in September: Asahi Shimbun North Korea is believed to have carried out another test of a ballistic missile engine last month which failed and exploded during testing. That's according to Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, on Saturday, which adds that South Korean and U.S. officials believe it was an engine for a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, possibly the Pukguksong-3. The failed test is said to have taken place at the eastern port city of Sinpo, home to a shipyard that makes the regime's submarines. The explosion may have injured or even possibly...

Satellite photos suggest North Korea preparing submarine missile test: report A proven system would take Kim Jong-un’s strike threat to a new level, allowing deployment beyond the Korean peninsula PUBLISHED : Saturday, 12 August, 2017, 3:32pm UPDATED : Saturday, 12 August, 2017, 3:32pm Recent satellite photos suggest North Korea could be preparing for fresh submarine-based ballistic missile tests, an expert on its military has said. Joseph Bermudez, a specialist in North Korean defence and intelligence affairs, posted photographs on the 38 North blog of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, which he said could show preparations for a test...

North Korea’s Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Program: Are the Tests Poised to Accelerate? By 38 North 01 May 2017 A 38 North exclusive with analysis by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. Commercial satellite imagery from April 19 has identified a second submersible test stand barge for North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) program at the Nampo Naval Shipyard, located on the country’s west coast. The barge appears identical in size (~9 m by 22.5 m) and layout to the original barge that was first seen in 2014 at the Sinpo South Shipyard on the country’s east coast, which has been involved in...

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the "top of the pack," saying the United States has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also complained about Russian deployment of a cruise missile in violation of an arms control treaty and said he would raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin when and if they meet. On another front, Trump said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea "very easily if they want to," ratcheting up pressure...

(LEAD) N. Korea employs SLBM tech in new intermediate-range missile: military 2017/02/13 18:04 SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Monday that North Korea appears to have employed technologies used in submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to develop a new type of intermediate-range rocket, citing its analysis of a launch test carried out by Pyongyang a day earlier. "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un likely ordered the task of developing a surface-to-surface Pukguksong-2 missile based on the successful SLBM test carried out in August. We have reached an assessment that the North is in the process of developing a ballistic...

China could have provided N. Korea with submarine missile China could have provided North Korea with the submarine-launched ballistic missile that the regime in Pyongyang successfully test-fired last week, a U.S. expert claimed Thursday. Bruce Bechtol, a North Korea expert at Angelo State University in Texas, made the remark during an interview with the John Batchelor Show radio news program, calling the North's SLBM, known as KN-11, a "carbon copy" of China's JL-1 submarine missile. "The missile that the North Koreans launched looks like it's a two-stage missile just like the JL-1. It looks like it's a solid-fuel missile just...

North Korea Unsuccessfully Fires Ballistic Missile From Submarine, Seoul Says Test launch comes a day after U.S. and South Korea said they would deploy a new missile-defense system By Kwanwoo Jun Updated July 9, 2016 1:57 a.m. ET 34 COMMENTS SEOUL—North Korea appeared to have unsuccessfully fired a missile from a submarine Saturday, just a day after Washington and Seoul agreed to deploy an advanced missile-defense system in South Korea to counter Pyongyang’s threats. South Korea’s defense ministry said North Korea test-fired what it views as a submarine-launched ballistic missile​off the eastern coastal city of Sinpo about 11:30 a.m. local...

The South Korean Military is developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), a high-ranking military official said. “On the 3,000-ton Jangbogo-III submarine, which is currently under production, we are installing a vertical launching pad,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. SLBMs are fired undersea and are therefore difficult to detect by radar. He added, “The installation of a vertical launching pad indicates that the SLBM is already under development.” The official also went on to say that the SLBM is being developed under the aegis of the Agency of Defense Development and is expected to be completed by...

North Korea has fired what is believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday. The missile was fired at 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET), South Korean officials said.

Days after India conducted the submarine launch of the nuclear-capable ballistic missile (SLBM) K-4, the United States expressed concern citing risks to nuclear security and regional stability. The ballistic missile launch was reportedly conducted in the Bay of Bengal March 7. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner raised the concern Wednesday while responding to a question by Pakistan's ARY News TV on whether US was concerned about India's "nuclearization" of the Indian Ocean. "We're concerned by any nuclear and missile developments that could potentially increase the risk to nuclear security or lower the threshold for nuclear use. And so we...

North Korea releases video of 'new' submarine-launched missile test Posted about 6 hours ago North Korea has released video footage of a purportedly new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test, three days after it claimed it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. But South Korean media suggested the footage broadcast by state Korean Central TV was an edited compilation of the North's third SLBM test, conducted last month in the Sea of Japan, and a different ballistic missile test from 2014. The undated footage shows leader Kim Jong-un, on board a military vessel in a winter coat and a fedora...

North Korean missile engine ignites / Screen Capture Two days after conducting a provocative underground nuclear test, North Korea on Friday released video showing what the government said was a successful submarine-launched ballistic missile test launch last month. State-run Korean Central Television, in a 54-minute video, included a report that said the missile launch was observed in December by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who was shown standing on a ship as the missile is ejected from underneath the water and then blasts off. The missile test was first reported Monday by the Washington Free Beacon. Defense officials said...

North Korea tested submarine-launched missile, but launch failed: report North Korea appeared to conduct a submarine-launched ballistic missile test on Saturday but it ended in failure with no indication that the missile successfully ejected from the vessel and took off, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The test, if confirmed, follows a test-launch in May of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which Pyongyang boasted as a success but has not been independently verified. "There is no identification of a missile taking flight and only fragments of a safety cover was observed so it's highly likely that the launch was a...