The Washington Free Beacon:
North Korea conducted a ground-test last week of its new KN-11 submarine-launched ballistic missile amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, defense officials said.
The missile test March 16 involved a “pop-up” or “ejection test” of the developmental SLBM from a canister ashore at the Sinpo shipyard, located on North Korea’s east coast where the KN-11 is being developed along with the Gorae-class missile-firing submarine.
It was the second recent test of this sort, following a Dec. 21 ejection test, and was the first SLBM test since the United Nations imposed tougher sanctions on Pyongyang.
At the Pentagon, spokesman Cmdr. Bill Urban: “We’re not going to comment on matters of intelligence.”
The test appears to violate a recent UN Security Council resolution, No. 2277, which on March 5 tightened economic sanctions on North Korea in an effort to block development of nuclear arms and nuclear missiles.
The new resolution states that a 2015 SLBM missile ejection test violated earlier UN resolutions aimed at curbing both nuclear and missile programs sponsored by the Pyongyang regime.
“All such ballistic missile activities contribute to [North Korea’s] development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension in the region and beyond,” the resolution says.
