North Korea’s ongoing missile testing campaign continued in October with its first test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) since 2019. In a series of images released by state media, the missile appears smaller than any SLBM that North Korea has previously tested. In size and dimensions it resembles the KN-23 ground-launched short-range ballistic missile, which the DPRK first tested in May 2019 and has tested successively since.

The introduction of this new SLBM coheres with North Korea’s broader ongoing attempts to diversify its missile arsenal, enhance the survivability of its missile forces and defeat missile defenses