SEOUL (REUTERS) - North Korea appears to have carried out a test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile last month, South Korean media reports said, but the South Korean military told Reuters it could not confirm the test.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency cited an unnamed South Korean government official as saying Pyongyang appeared to have conducted an ejection test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in December, following a reported failure of such a test in November.

A South Korean military official told Reuters that North Korea continued to develop submarine-launched missile capability but it will take a substantial period of time for North Korea to be able to successfully deploy such a weapon.