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| A news report on a North Korean short-range ballistic missile launch is aired on a TV screen at Seoul Station, May 7. Yonhap |
North Korea's official news agency and other state media outlets remained silent Sunday about a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that the country fired the previous day in its latest saber-rattling ahead of the inauguration of South Korea's incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, usually begins its morning news cycle with reports on major events that happened the previous day, such as leader Kim Jong-un's activities or major weapons testing.
But on Sunday, the KCNA made no mention of the SLBM launch, which, according to South Korea's military, was carried out Saturday afternoon in waters off the North's eastern coastal city of Sinpo, the North's main submarine shipyard.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, and other media outlets also remained silent on the launch.
The missile test, which marked the North's 15th show of force this year, came just three days before Yoon takes office as president with a North Korea policy widely seen as more hawkish than that of outgoing President Moon Jae-in.
It was the second time in less than a week that North Korean state media outlets have not carried a report on a major weapons test. Last week, state media carried no reports after the North fired what is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), spurring speculation the launch ended in failure. (Yonhap)
