North Korea missile test adds to ‘Military First’ celebration

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea marked its “Military First” holiday on Thursday with mass dancing, outdoor concerts and boasts of a successful — and potentially game-changing — submarine-launched ballistic-missile test it hopes will serve as a warning to Washington and Seoul to stop holding joint military exercises Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

The test, which brought immediate condemnation from the United States and North Korea’s neighbors, sent a “Pukguksong” missile soaring from a submerged position off the North’s port city of Sinpo.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was shown smiling and hugging officials after watching the test from an observation deck.

Launching long-range ballistic missiles from submarines is stealthier than land launching.

Though North Korea has protested such exercises for decades, prompting regular spikes in tensions on the divided peninsula, it has been particularly alarmed by reports that the maneuvers have recently started to include training for an invasion of the North and precision strikes, or “beheading operations,” against its top leaders.

North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons development programs have brought it heavy international sanctions, but it says they are justified because of the threat posed by the U.S. and South Korea.