North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with military officials
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with military officialsReuters

North Korea confirmed that it had successfully tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on Wednesday morning (local time).

North Korean leader “Kim Jong Un sent warm congratulations” to those who had carried out the successful test-firing of the new type of SLBM, called Pukguksong-3, the North’s official news agency KCNA said.

Kim was not at the site of the test, the report noted.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Wednesday morning that North Korea fired an unidentified projectile from around Wonsan, in southeast Kangwon province, toward the sea to the east.

Japan’s Coast Guard later said North Korea had launched what appeared to be a missile and urged vessels to pay attention to further information and not to approach any debris.

The latest launch was North Korea’s ninth since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met at the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas in June.

It comes just a day after Pyongyang announced it had agreed with the United States to hold working-level talks on Saturday.

Talks between the US and North Korea on denuclearization continue to stall, having broken down after the failed summit between Kim and Trump in February in Vietnam.

Trump has said he's "not happy" about North Korea's persistent testing of short-range missiles but denied the launches violate any agreement.

Two weeks ago, it was reported that Kim had invited Trump to visit Pyongyang in a letter sent in August.

The White House, the US State Department and the North Korean mission to the United Nations would not comment on that report.