North Korea Missile Launched From Sub Last Week Appears Same Model as Last Year’s: Japan Minister

May 10, 2022Asia & Pacific

North Korea Missile Launched From Sub Last Week Appears Same Model as Last Year’s: Japan Minister

A North Korean national flag flutters in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong during the ceremony for a project to modernize and connect roads and railways over the border between the Koreas at Panmun Station in Kaesong, North Korea, on Dec. 26, 2018. (Korea Pool/Getty Images)

TOKYO—The ballistic missile North Korea launched last week appears to be the same model as the submarine-launched missile Pyongyang tested last October, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said on Tuesday.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile from a submarine on Saturday, days before the inauguration of new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan.

“The missile launched this time appears to be the same model as the new submarine-launched missile fired on Oct. 19, 2021,” Kishi told a regular news conference.

“The string of missile launches while the invasion of Ukraine is under way is unacceptable,” Kishi said.

North Korea last October test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, a move that analysts said could be aimed at more quickly fielding an operational missile submarine.