By Jung Joo-ri and Yoon Hee Young
Video = Cheong Wa Dae's official YouTube channel

The nation has successfully tested a domestically developed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) for launch from underwater.

The Ministry of National Defense on Sept. 15 said, "On the afternoon of Sept. 15 at the test site of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the submarine launch test of Korea's first SLBM was successfully conducted with the president and minister of national defense attending."

The missile is considered a weapons system with high strategic value due to its operability on a submarine that secretly moves under water.

The SLBM was launched from under water aboard the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho (SS-083), the Republic of Korea Navy's first 3,000 ton-class submarine independently developed and built with domestic technology. The missile flew out of the water and was airborne for approximately 400 km before accurately hitting its target.

The ministry said the ADD has made public multiple overground and underwater launch tests, adding, "By successfully test launching a missile from a real submarine, Korea has become the seventh country to successfully launch an SLBM."

Other countries operating SLBMs include the U.S., Russia, China, the U.K., France and India.

President Moon Jae-in attended the test and expressed his high admiration for the SLBM maintaining a normal trajectory and hitting its target accurately despite unfavorable weather in the impact area.

He added that successful missile tests including that of the SLBM have boosted the basis of the country's "unshakable" independent capacity in national defense.

etoilejr@korea.kr