North Korea confirms submarine launch of new ballistic missile

• North Korea test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, state media confirmed on Wednesday.
• USA has urged North Korea to refrain from further ""provocations"", with spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying that United States remained open to engaging diplomatically with North Korea over its weapons programs.
• North korea so far has rejected those overtures, accusing the United States and South Korea of talking diplomacy while ratcheting up tensions with their own military activities.

Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)

• It is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from submarines.
• Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) each of which carries a nuclear warhead and allows a single launched missile to strike several targets.

North korea and SLBM

• North Korea has a large fleet of aging submarines, but has yet to deploy operational ballistic missile submarines beyond the experimental Gorae-class boat used in the tests.
• Photos released by state media appeared to show a thinner, smaller missile than North Korea's earlier SLBM designs.
• A smaller SLBM could mean more missiles stored on a single submarine, although with a shorter range, potentially putting nuclear-armed North Korea closer to fielding an operational ballistic missile submarine (SSB).
• The new type SLBM featured advanced control guidance technologies including ""flank mobility and gliding skip mobility,"" as per state media.