North Korea again defied international and U.N. sanctions by launching a ballistic missile from a submarine Saturday. South Korean government officials, however, said that the launch had failed.
"North Korea is believed to have fired a KN-11 missile from a submarine in the East Sea roughly between 2:20 p.m. and 2:40 p.m., but the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) failed to soar from the waters," an official said Saturday, according to Yonhap News. "They appear to have failed in its launch," the official added.
"It is highly likely that the launch was a misfire," a source from the South Korean government said, according to Nikkei.
North Korea claimed earlier this year that it successfully test-fired a submarine-based ballistic missile, Voice of America reported. The U.N. sanctions, placed by United Nations Council resolutions, ban Pyongyang from developing or using ballistic missile technology.
Negotiators from the North and South Korea met Thursday and agreed to hold vice minister-level talks in the North's town of Kaesong on Dec.11, as HNGN previously reported.
The long-strained ties between the two countries have improved since the landmark peace deal reached in August. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed on Aug. 25 to hold high-level talks under the peace deal that ended a military standoff in the Korean peninsula.
