Korea made a key step in its nuclear weapons programme by test-launching a ballistic missile from a submarine, but remains years away from developing a missile system or submarine which could threaten its sworn enemy the United States, experts said.
South Korea on Monday called the test "very serious and concerning" and urged Pyongyang to immediately stop developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), which it said hindered regional security.
Isolated North Korea, already slapped with UN sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests, is widely believed to be trying to develop a nuclear device small enough to be mounted on a ballistic missile, but it is not clear whether it has done so - a crucial step to make its nuclear missile threat credible.
And while some North Korean submarines are technically capable of coming within range of the U.S. mainland, they cannot necessarily carry a missile, although the North`s missile-equipped submarines could reach Japanese waters.
"They need to build a new, bigger submarine," said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum and a policy adviser to the South Korean navy.
North Korea is technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and regularly threatens the United States, the South`s biggest ally, with destruction.
Both the United States and Japan reserve rights to conduct pre-emptive strikes on North Korean missile sites if a nuclear attack is viewed as imminent. Launching missiles from submarines could enable Pyongyang to hide them.
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