North Korea releases new missile footage

SEOUL, May 27 (UPI) -- North Korea released new footage of what it claims is the triumphant lift-off of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Two minutes of heavily edited footage uploaded to YouTube appeared on the page of North Korea's state-controlled media outlet Uriminzokkiri on Wednesday, reported South Korean news agency Yonhap.

A ballistic missile is shown in the reel, shooting out of a submerged watercraft, symbolically piercing the sky as the narrator mocks the United States and South Korea, comparing them to "startled calves."

"No matter what [they do]...they will be met with a bolt of lightning," the narrator says in translation, before the missile explodes into fire and smoke.

South Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily reported the footage was jumpy, and appeared to be possibly manipulated with the use of computer graphics. Yonhap reported ten seconds of the missile image appeared to be edited footage of Trident 1, an American SLBM launched in the 70s.

On May 19 U.S. Admiral James Winnefeld said a separate video footage of North Korea's underwater test had been manipulated, attributing the images to Pyongyang's "clever video editors and spin-meisters."

"They are years away from developing this capability," Winnefeld had said.

The quality of the footage, reported Yonhap, indicates North Korea is at its earliest stages of SLBM development. Seoul also said the footage more closely resembled a missile ejection, rather than a firing -- the weapon only reached 100 meters after coming out of the water.

Pyongyang has also claimed it now has the capability to miniaturize nuclear bombs.