North Korea has been firing off a series of missile tests in recent weeks, and one of them came from a silo that was underwater, reports the Washington Post. The North said Monday that it successfully launched a missile from an inland reservoir, per the AP. It's the first time Pyongyang has acknowledged it is building underwater missile silos, notes the New York Times, a feat that would make missiles harder to spot and thus intercept. Over the past two weeks alone, the North has launched a total of 12 ballistic missiles in seven different tests, including one missile that flew over Japan on Oct. 4.
The nation's state media reported Monday that the tests were intended to show that the North could launch nuclear missiles at South Korea at any time. "Through seven times of launching drills of the tactical nuclear operation units, the actual war capabilities … of the nuclear combat forces ready to hit and wipe out the set objects at any location and any time were displayed to the full," said the official Korean Central News Agency. Pyongyang said the latest tests were in response to recent joint naval drills between South Korea and the US. (More North Korea stories.)