North Korea test-fires submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles in Sea of Japan

Summary

North Korea conducted test-firings of two types of strategic cruise missiles from underwater on October 14, 2026, in its eastern waters, according to reports citing North Korean state media. The test was described as aimed at evaluating underwater combat system readiness and demonstrating nuclear deterrent reliability. Reports indicate the missiles were likely launched from the Hero Kim Kun Ok submarine, a 3,000-ton vessel introduced in 2023 with approximately 10 launch tubes, with one missile reportedly fired from a vertical launch tube and another from a torpedo tube. However, one report noted uncertainty about whether the missiles were launched from an actual submarine or an underwater test platform. South Korea's military tracked the launches. A Joint Chiefs spokesperson did not confirm the test. This marked the first such underwater missile launch by North Korea in nearly three years and the first dual launch of different missile types from the same submarine, according to reports.

What imagery could confirm

Which satellite to use, what to look for and why. Part of the event detail on Pro.

What remains unresolved

• named facility unresolved

Timeline

6 recorded change(s). The ledger starts when this event was first folded: the initial observation is not recorded as a change, so an empty timeline means nothing has moved since, not that nothing is known.

3 more change(s) — the values are part of the event detail on paid plans. 3 change(s) before the history shown here.

Related events

6 related event(s) and 6 place(s) or facilities — the same facility, place, actor or campaign. Part of the event detail on Pro.

Reproduce over the API (free endpoint)

curl "https://offnadir-delta.com/api/v1/events/825d501f-04e6-4359-bbe0-f53c66a3663a/thread" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ond_YOUR_API_KEY"