South Korea's military on Monday confirmed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s development of a new road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) based on a technology of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
An unnamed official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) held a separate press briefing, saying that what was test-fired by the DPRK was a new solid fuel-powered IRBM based on SLBM technology, according to local media reports.
The DPRK test-launched a ballistic missile, which it called Pukguksong-2, from the country's western region early Sunday. It flew east towards the East Sea for 500 km after blasting off at an altitude of 550 km.
Following the launch, the JCS said Sunday that it could be an advanced version of intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile, which soared as high as 1,413.6 km and traveled 500 km during the June 22 test-flight.
The Seoul military changed the Sunday assessment, saying top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un probably instructed the development of a longer-range ground-based missile based on technology of the SLBM, which was test-launched in August last year.
The new DPRK missile was fired from a crawler-type mobile launcher, and the South Korean military put its range at anything between those of SLBM and Musudan missiles.
The DPRK-owned SLBM is believed to have a range of 2,000-2,500 km, with the estimation of Musudan range put at 3,000-3,500 km. The Pukguksong-2 may have a range of 2,500-3,000 km.
Musudan can put the entire of South Korea and Japan as well as U.S. military base in Guam in its target range.
