South Korea on Wednesday said it had carried out its first underwater-launched missile test, hours after rival North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea.
South Korea successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday, becoming only the seventh country in the world with the advanced technology, the presidential Blue House said, reported news agency AFP.
A missile was fired underwater from the newly commissioned submarine Ahn Chang-ho, the Blue House said.
President Moon Jae-in's office said in a statement that Moon observed the test of a domestically-built submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday afternoon. It says the missile fired from a 3,000-tonne-class submarine flew a previously set distance before hitting a designated target.
This came after two short-range North Korean ballistic missile launches detected by South Korea's military earlier Wednesday.
North Korea on Wednesday fired two ballistic missiles into the East Sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The missiles were fired from central inland areas of North Korea on Wednesday afternoon (local time), South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said citing the JCS as saying in a statement. The South Korean and the US intelligence authorities are analysing details for additional information.
"Our military maintains a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the US," the JCS said. North Korea tested a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, Korean Central News Agency KCNA said on Monday. The missile flew 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) before hitting the target.
(With inputs from Agencies)