North Korea seems to test-fire two kinds of submarine-launched cruise missiles

North Korea test-fired two kinds of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles in the East Sea on Wednesday, October 14, according to a dispatch from the Korean Central News Agency dated Pyongyang, October 15. KCNA says the Missile Administration carried out the launches and that the test-fire “aimed to examine the current mobilized posture of the underwater combat systems and contributed to getting the Navy skilled in performing its strategic missions and showcasing high reliability, trustworthiness and ability of the war deterrents of the DPRK.” The agency adds that the launch “did not have any adverse impact on the security of neighboring countries.” Yonhap carried the earliest report this desk found, at 6:21 a.m. Korea time on Thursday (2:21 PM PT Wednesday), quoting KCNA’s English dispatch; Reuters, DW and AP followed later on Wednesday, Pacific time.

KCNA names the officials who oversaw the test-fire: Full General Kim Jong Sik, a member of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea and first vice department director of its Central Committee; Full General Jang Chang Ha, general director of the Missile Administration; and underwater weapon system engineers of the Korean People’s Army Navy. Yonhap romanizes the two names as Kim Jong-sik and Jang Chang-ha. Leader Kim Jong Un does not appear in the dispatch; Yonhap says others see his absence as a way to show off the navy’s capabilities while avoiding heavy outside pressure. Yonhap’s English and Korean services both say the Rodong Sinmun, which the English service calls the North’s most widely read newspaper, did not report the launch. Yonhap’s Korean service adds that only the outward-facing KCNA carried it, in just four sentences and without flight time, distance or other specifications, though with several photos of a submarine under way, a missile bursting from the water in flame and a missile in cruise flight (this desk’s translation).

The dispatch does not name the launch platform. AP and DW say the report did not specify whether the missiles left an actual submarine or an underwater test platform, and that its use of the word strategic implies an intent to arm the weapons with nuclear warheads. South Korean analysts drew on the photos: Reuters says they read KCNA’s images of a submarine and of the firings as suggesting the launches came from the “Kim Kun Ok Hero,” which Reuters describes as a modified diesel-powered submarine North Korea unveiled in September 2023. Yonhap says experts saw the missiles as appearing to come from what the North called its first tactical nuclear attack submarine, Hero Kim Kun Ok, a 3,000-ton-class vessel the North described as one of the “core underwater offensive means” of its navy; at the boat’s September 6, 2023, launching ceremony, Yonhap says, Kim Jong Un reportedly said arming the navy with nuclear weapons “brooks no further delay.” Yonhap’s Korean service, which says the launch appears to have come from that boat, calls it the North’s first missile launch from a 3,000-ton submarine and the first public look at the boat’s activity in more than three years (this desk’s translation).

South Korea’s military did not publicly disclose the launch on Wednesday, Yonhap says, but on Thursday it said it had followed the missiles throughout. “Our military has persistently monitored and tracked the North Korean cruise missile activity reported yesterday, using various assets from before the launch through the cruise phase to the end of the flight,” Capt. Jang Do-young, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, told a press briefing, in Yonhap’s English rendering. Yonhap says the military rejected claims that it may have missed the launches, and that Jang declined to name the surveillance assets, citing confidentiality with the United States. Asked about the launch systems, Jang said one type of missile left a vertical launching system and the other a torpedo launcher, according to Yonhap; Reuters reports the military’s assessment as one type from a vertical launch system “and another from a torpedo tube.” Yonhap’s Korean service notes that the military usually does not disclose every cruise missile launch to the press, unlike ballistic launches (this desk’s translation). The AP story this desk read, an NBC News copy posted at 11:49 p.m. EDT Wednesday, says the South Korean military “did not immediately comment on the tests.”

Sources differ on when North Korea last fired a missile from a submarine. Yonhap’s English service calls Wednesday’s test the first of its kind since January 2024, when the North said Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missiles flew from the 2,000-ton-class 8.24 Yongung submarine with Kim watching, and says the North first reported a submarine-launched cruise missile test from that vessel in March 2023. Yonhap’s Korean service instead dates the North’s last missile launch from a submarine to March 12, 2023, from the same 8.24 Yongung, and its subhead counts the gap at three years and seven months (this desk’s translation). This desk could not resolve the difference from the reports it read. Reuters says North Korea has tested missiles from various platforms, including an aging submarine, and AP says the North has for years developed ballistic and cruise missiles designed for underwater launch and has claimed progress in recent months on a nuclear-powered submarine that it intends to arm with nuclear-capable weapons.

Analysts quoted by Reuters and Yonhap read the test as a step toward deployment. Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, told Reuters the launches showed that “combat system tests for operational deployment are underway” and added: “They are also likely to fire an SLBM before long,” meaning a submarine-launched ballistic missile; Yonhap’s Korean service quotes him in similar terms. Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told Reuters that Pyongyang’s description of the event as a “routine mobilization-readiness inspection,” rather than a development test, appeared intended to show the submarine moving toward deployment, though he saw only “limited operational capability” so far, since submerged launches, long patrols and SLBM operations have yet to happen. KCNA’s own English renders that phrase as an effort to “examine the current mobilized posture of the underwater combat systems.” In Yonhap’s Korean report, Hong calls the simultaneous launch from a submarine of two missile types with different diameters, lengths and launch methods a first, and a show of integrated capability (this desk’s translation). Reuters adds that defense analysts say vertical launch systems let submarines fire missiles faster and in larger salvos than torpedo tubes, potentially reducing warning times and complicating defenses.

The test follows a busy stretch. Yonhap says that earlier this week Pyongyang test-fired tactical ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea, and that the North said Tuesday the launch aimed to “confirm the success in the research for the technical upgrading of an important core element.” AP lists tests of hypersonic missile systems on September 20 and October 3, plus live-fire drills and the commissioning of a new warship in recent weeks. DW says the cruise missile test came two days after state media released photos of Kim visiting a new military museum that displayed an intercontinental ballistic missile, and that Donald Trump, alluding to an Asia trip next month, said earlier in the week he might meet Kim. AP says Kim has rebuffed Trump’s calls to revive the diplomacy that broke down in 2019, and that his government wants Washington to drop demands for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks.

Seems News reading note: the launches themselves rest on North Korea’s state media and on South Korea’s military, which says it tracked the missiles; the identity of the submarine rests on South Korean analysts reading KCNA’s photos, and the military’s remarks as Yonhap reports them name launch systems, not a vessel. No source this desk read gives a flight distance, flight time or impact point. Watch for any further KCNA account or photos with Kim Jong Un, any Japanese Defense Ministry statement, and whether the North tests a submarine-launched ballistic missile next, as Shin expects.