N.Korean Sub-Launched Missile 'Many Years Away'

North Korea is "many years" away from being able to launch a submarine-launched ballistic missile yet, a senior U.S. military leader said.

Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the North Koreans "have not gotten as far as their clever video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe."

North Korea made a show of test-launching a missile from a submarine earlier this month.

Winnefeld was speaking at a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington

But he added submarine-launched ballistic missiles could eventually present a "hard-to-detect" danger to Japan and South Korea and U.S. forces stationed there.

The Defense Ministry here dismissed the possibility that the test-launch footage was doctored, saying both South Korea and U.S. intelligence agencies agree that the North succeeded in test-firing an SLBM.

"We confirmed that an SLBM was launched from a submarine, soared out of the water, and flew about 150 m," a military spokesman said.

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