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North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile that flew about 300 miles before landing in the sea early Wednesday, officials said.

North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile that flew about 300 miles before landing in the sea early Wednesday, officials said. (NDN Video still image)

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a submarine-launched missile that flew at least 300 miles before landing in the sea early Wednesday, officials said. The distance was a personal best for the North, showing it is making serious progress in its nuclear weapons program.

The South Korean, Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers denounced the launch, which occurred amid high tensions as the U.S. and South Korea hold annual war games.

“China is opposed to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development process and is opposed to any actions that trigger tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” China’s Wang Yi told reporters in Tokyo.

The launch came hours after Pyongyang warned that the joint exercises in the South were pushing the peninsula toward the brink of war and asked for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council. North Korea objects to the drills, which it considers a rehearsal for an invasion, and has issued several warnings that it would retaliate for them. Washington and Seoul insist the exercises are defensive in nature and designed to ensure readiness.

The presumed KN-11 ballistic missile was launched from the eastern port city of Sinpo and “was tracked over and into the Sea of Japan, approximately 300 miles off the coast of North Korea,” U.S. Strategic Command said in a statement. It strongly condemned the launch and said it planned to raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council.

The South Korean military called it an “armed protest” against the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises. It said the distance traveled was 310 miles and showed the North is making technical progress in its missile program.

The missile was fired at a very steep angle that affected the overall range, an unidentified military official told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The missile could have flown more than 620 miles if fired at a regular angle, the official said.

Yonhap also reported that the missile fell into waters that are part of Japan’s air defense identification zone. Japan’s foreign minister said he had lodged a protest with the North.

North Korea had similar success with a land-based Musudan missile earlier this year. Experts said the steep angle is needed to prevent it from hitting Japan or other territories while still showing off the ability to do so.

“The SLBM launched earlier today indicated improvements compared with the North’s previous tests,” the joint chiefs of staff in Seoul said. “It seemed to be aimed at raising military tension in response to the ongoing joint military drill between Seoul and Washington.”

The missile test could be declared a success, said Moon Keun-sik, an expert at the Korea Defense and Security Forum.

“The fact that the SLBM flew about [310 miles] suggests that North Korea is nearing the stage of completion for the weapon,” he said.

North Korea has fired two other missiles from submarines this year as it conducted more weapons tests that defy tightened U.N. sanctions, but the one launched Wednesday flew the farthest. The ability to launch missiles from submarines would be particularly alarming because they would be harder to detect in advance.

Relations between the two Koreas have steadily deteriorated this year as the North was angered over separate U.S. sanctions against its leader, Kim Jong Un, and plans to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system in the South.

The defection of a high-level North Korean diplomat to the South earlier this month also was a serious blow to Pyongyang.

North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Jan Song Nam, said in a letter to the Security Council that the U.S. was "creating the danger of war" with the annual drills, according to The Associated Press.

He also warned that "peace, security and relaxation of tension on the Korean Peninsula and in the region cannot be thinkable unless the U.S.-South Korea aggressive joint military exercises are totally halted."

The joint drills, which began Monday and continue through Sept. 2, involve more than 25,000 U.S. servicemembers and 50,000 South Korean forces.

China is a traditional ally of the North, but it has been frustrated with Pyongyang’s defiance over its nuclear program and signed off on tightened U.N. sanctions earlier this year.

Ties have been strained, however, by the U.S.-South Korean plans for the anti-missile system known as THAAD in a southern region. Beijing is concerned the battery’s powerful radar could be used to track its military movements.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who held a press conference with Wang and South Korea’s Yun Byung-se in Tokyo, urged cooperation against the North.

“I hope to coordinate closely in order for Japan, China and South Korea to lead the efforts of the international community,” he said.

About 28,500 U.S. servicemembers are stationed in South Korea as the peninsula remains technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.gamel.kim@stripes.com Twitter: @kimgamel

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Yoo Kyong Chang is a reporter/translator covering the U.S. military from Camp Humphreys, South Korea. She graduated from Korea University and also studied at the University of Akron in Ohio.

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