[SeijiSensei]

North Korea fires submarine launched ballistic missile toward Japan

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its eastern coast on Wednesday, demonstrating a significant improvement in its efforts to build a harder-to-detect means to strike American and allied forces, the South Korean military said.

The missile, launched from near Sinpo, a submarine base, flew 310 miles toward Japan, the South Korean military said in a statement. The statement said that the test showed that North Korea was making “progress” after several failed tests of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs.

All previous such missiles North Korea had launched flew only a short distance, making those flights too brief to be called successful, according to South Korean officials. Missile experts have said that North Korea probably conducted some of its previous tests from a submerged barge, rather than from a submarine, releasing digitally altered photographs to exaggerate its missile technology for its home audience.

Later on Wednesday, in a statement issued after a meeting of its top security officials, South Korea confirmed that the latest North Korean SLBM test had been conducted from a submarine.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, noting that the launch marked the first time that a North Korean missile had penetrated his country’s air defense identification zone, where it tries to identify and locate passing aircraft for security purposes, called the test “a grave threat to our country’s security.”

This can't be good.