S.Korea test-fires submarine-launched ballistic missile

South Korea has successfully test-fired a homegrown submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), a military source announced on Tuesday.

The military source said that the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD) conducted its first underwater ejection test of the SLBM from a domestically-developed 3,000-ton submarine on September 1, reports Xinhua news agency.

The SLBM will be mass-produced and deployed after a couple of additional tests.

It will be mounted on the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine with six vertical launch tubes that was put into commission on August 13.

The SLBM was reportedly codenamed 'Hyunmoo 4-4' as it was developed based on the technology of the country's Hyunmoo-2B ballistic missile with a range of about 500 km.

It will fitted with conventional warheads.

The military staged a successful test of the SLBM from an underwater barge last month, before the submarine test-launch last week.

South Korea became the eighth country in the world to develop an SLBM after the US, Russia, Britain, France, India, China and North Korea - IANS