US officials claim North
Korea has lost contact with one of its submarines, amid ongoing military
exercises by South Korea and the United States in the region.
Reports on Saturday said the vessel, of an unknown class, was last seen operating off the North Korean coast earlier this week.
They cited US military officials as saying that American spy satellites, aircraft, and ships have been watching the North Korean navy search for the missing submarine.
The report said the US military is unsure whether the vessel is adrift or has sunk, but believes it underwent an unspecified failure during an exercise.
The US Naval Institute (USNI) News, meanwhile, has said the vessel was presumed sunk.
North Korea has not confirmed the incident, and has made no comment on the report.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official, whose name was not mentioned in reports, said his country is investigating the reports.
The report of the submarine going missing came as Pyongyang issued a new warning against South Korea and the US over their joint ongoing drills.
The official North Korean KCNA news agency cited a statement from military chiefs, who warned that Pyongyang would carry out “a preemptive retaliatory strike at the enemy groups” involved in the joint US-South Korean exercises.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/03/12/455230/North-Korea-missing-submarine-US-South-Korea
Reports on Saturday said the vessel, of an unknown class, was last seen operating off the North Korean coast earlier this week.
They cited US military officials as saying that American spy satellites, aircraft, and ships have been watching the North Korean navy search for the missing submarine.
The report said the US military is unsure whether the vessel is adrift or has sunk, but believes it underwent an unspecified failure during an exercise.
The US Naval Institute (USNI) News, meanwhile, has said the vessel was presumed sunk.
North Korea has not confirmed the incident, and has made no comment on the report.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official, whose name was not mentioned in reports, said his country is investigating the reports.
The report of the submarine going missing came as Pyongyang issued a new warning against South Korea and the US over their joint ongoing drills.
The official North Korean KCNA news agency cited a statement from military chiefs, who warned that Pyongyang would carry out “a preemptive retaliatory strike at the enemy groups” involved in the joint US-South Korean exercises.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/03/12/455230/North-Korea-missing-submarine-US-South-Korea