A day after the United States and South Korea announced their decision to deploy an advanced missile defense system on the Korean peninsula, North Korea once again test-launched its KN-11 submarine-launched ballistic missile. The missile was fired at 11:30 a.m. local time on Saturday. The test failed, according to assessments by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The KN-11, which was last tested in April 2016, reached an altitude of 10 kilometers before exploding on Saturday.
South Korean assessments noted that the KN-11 was ejected from North Korea’s sole 2,000-ton Sinpo-class submarine. “The SLBM was ejected from the submarine normally, but [we] estimate the initial flight was unsuccessful,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs noted in a statement.
The U.S.-South Korea alliance had reached a decision on Friday morning to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, amid concerns about threats to South Korea from North Korean ballistic missiles. Moreover, earlier in the week, the United States, for the first time ever, listed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un under sanctions. Both moves together suggested that North Korea, as it is known to do, would lash out with a missile test. Pyongyang recently concluded a spate of testing for its road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missiles, the Hwasong-10 (or Musudan). A test conducted in June was declared successful after five prior failed attempts.
