By Brian Han

Nuclear weapons testing represents the one contingency that truly holds back North Korea from improving international relations.

Yet over the weekend, the communist nation showed its disregard by testing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that failed to even leave the water in which it was fired.

A South Korean government intelligence agency monitoring the country’s military technological advancements picked up on the attempt on Saturday located in the East Sea.

The last time the North tested such a missile occurred back in May.

“Under U.N. resolutions, North Korea is prohibited from developing or testing any kind of ballistic missile,” Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters in a briefing according to Yonhap. “It practically constitutes a U.N. resolution violation,” Kim said.