ROK's president to hold security meeting after DPRK's firing of missile

SEOUL -- The Republic of Korea (ROK)'s President Park Geun-hye is to convene a meeting of top security officials Tuesday after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced its "successful" test-firing of a ballistic missile from a submarine.

Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook told a press briefing that President Park will chair the meeting of foreign affairs and security later in the morning to discuss measures to tackle the DPRK's test-launching of an underwater ballistic missile and its provocation threats of aimed strikes against ROK's navy vessels.

Attending the meeting will be ministers of foreign affairs, defense and unification, and intelligence agency chief as well as senior presidential secretaries for security and foreign affairs.

The meeting would be held for the first time in about a year as the DPRK said Saturday that it succeeded in test-firing a ballistic missile from a submarine.

The DPRK's submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) was believed to be tested in an initial phase as the missile flied just 100-150 meters, indicating that it was an ejection test, not a full flight test.

However, the full-developed SLBM, which was estimated to take four to five years, would become a real threat as the existing surveillance assets and missiles, held by ROK, are very hard to detect the underwater-moving DPRK submarine and strike missiles from the sub.

For two straight days to Saturday, the DPRK warned of "direct aimed strikes without any prior notice" against any South Korean navy patrol ships, which the DPRK accused of violating the disputed western sea border.

The DPRK's southwestern front command issued the warning Friday, saying 17 South Korean naval boats intruded into its territorial waters in the past seven days.

The warning was sent via the western military communication line to ROK's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, and the DPRK command sent another "threatening" notice to the presidential office Saturday.