PYONGYANG: North Korea says its latest weapons test was of a submarine-launched ballistic missile that marked a “new phase” in its defence capability, just days before the resumption of stalled nuclear talks with the US. Ankit Panda of the Federation of American Scientists called it Pyongyang’s longest-range-capable solid-fuel missile, adding Wednesday’s launch was “unambiguously the first nuclear-capable missile test since November 2017”. The North carried out a successful test of the solid-fuel Pukguksong-1, also known as KN-11, in August 2016, which flew around 500 kilometres. Tokyo said a part of Wednesday’s missile landed in waters within Japan’s exclusive economic zone — a 200-kilometre band around Japanese territory. North Korea is banned from ballistic missile launches by United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Source: Pakistan Today October 03, 2019 02:26 UTC