Seoul welcomed a UN Security Council’s statement condemning North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile from a submarine, saying the UN body’s swift response sends a grave warning to the regime’s apparent provocation.

In a statement released Monday the South Korean Foreign Ministry said any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology, whether successful or not, is in violation of UNSC resolutions.

The UNSC adopted a press statement last Saturday to denounce the North’s missile launch, a day after North Korea's attempt to launch its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile.

But the success of the test-firing of the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) is under debate.

Last Sunday, the North claimed that the credibility of its underwater launch system had been proven and all technical data had met necessary conditions for underwater attack operations.

The North’s state-run media, Rodong Sinmun and the state-run Korean Central Television, said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un praised the North’s scientists, factory workers and technicians. The local media reported that Kim Jong-un said the SLBM gave the North another way to launch its nuclear weapons.

In contrast, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported that the North’s SLBM, codenamed the KN-11 or the North Star-1 by the North, fell only 30 kilometers away from its launch point. That is far short of the 300 kilometers needed for an SLBM.

In a report published Monday on 38 North, U.S. expert John Schilling said Pyongyang's pictures of its KN-11 SLBM test-firing showed technological improvements that could allow the missile to function in an operational environment.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry said it is aiming to develop a ballistic missile early warning system by 2020 to cope with the North’s SLBM threat.

Meanwhile, the North continued its provocative acts, attempting to fire two mid-ranged Musudan ballistic missiles Thursday. Both, however, appear to have failed.