The North Korean SLBM, launched from a submerged platform/barge, traveled about 450 km in an easterly direction at a maximum altitude of 909 km. It was Pyongyang’s 11th test this year and the ninth since US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February. Tests of the Pukguksong-2 missile from North Korean subs have occurred before, but the estimate for actual military operations, as opposed to tests, is several years off. But military planners should be thinking about platform launches as a quick evolutionary step in North Korean technology. The potential deployment of a hard-to-detect North Korean SLBM from a sea platform or submarine changes the tactical environment for Japan and makes any type of Korean Peninsula denuclearization more distant.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 12, 2019 06:22 UTC