North Korean submarine-launched missiles covertly fired in the East Sea yesterday ... Did South Korea’s military fail to detect them?

[Financial News] North Korea test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles (SLCMs) in the East Sea on the 14th, but the question of whether South Korean military authorities failed to detect the launches has come to the fore. The missiles are reportedly difficult to detect because submarines can navigate stealthily underwater before launching them by surprise. Moreover, the disruption to sensitive security information sharing between South Korea and the United States has dragged on for six months.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on the 15th, “The Missile General Bureau test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles in the East Sea of Korea on the 14th.” However, South Korean military authorities were unable to disclose the launches.
Submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles are considered a threatening weapon that is extremely difficult to detect and intercept, as they combine the stealth of submarines, whose launch locations are unknown, with the flight characteristics of cruise missiles, which fly low to evade detection.
Movements by ground-based launchers or aircraft are likely to be detected in advance by satellites or reconnaissance aircraft. Ballistic missiles (SLBMs) that soar high into space along a parabolic trajectory are detected as soon as they are launched by early-warning satellites or high-performance radar.
By contrast, it is difficult to know the location of a stealthily moving submarine until just before it launches. It can infiltrate by a circuitous route into waters to the rear, rather than forward areas with dense radar coverage, maximizing the element of surprise. Moreover, cruise missiles fly low, hugging the ground or sea surface, making them difficult for ground-based radar to detect early because of the curvature of the Earth.
KCNA stressed, “The test launch had no negative impact whatsoever on the safety of neighboring countries.” News of the test launch was not reported in Rodong Sinmun, the Workers’ Party newspaper read by North Koreans, and appeared only in KCNA, a media outlet aimed at foreign audiences.
Kim Jong-sik, first vice department director of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee; Jang Chang-ha, director of the Missile General Bureau; and engineers working on the Korean People’s Army Navy’s underwater weapons systems were present to observe the launch. It has not been confirmed whether North Korean Workers’ Party General Secretary Kim Jong Un attended.

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