Kim Jong-Un declares North Korean submarine missile launch test a miracle (PHOTOS)

 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has hailed the recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile as an 'eye-opening miracle', despite the West claiming the images have been faked.

The North's official KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday that Kim hosted a gathering of the scientists and technicians ahead of the launch earlier this month.

It said Kim congratulated them for producing a miracle, billing the supposed launch as an "historical event" that had left the country with a powerful strategic weapon.

 A fully developed SLBM capability would take the North Korean nuclear threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and the potential to retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack.

But experts have already questioned the authenticity of the recent test. The photos of the launch have reportedly been digitally manipulated, according to experts.

They also suggested that the missile was probably fired from a sunken platform rather than an underwater submarine.

Although the North looks keen to continue to develop a working SLBM, the expert consensus remains that the backward state, racked by poverty, remains years rather than months from acquiring such a missile.

 Questions remain over whether the missile test was genuine or exaggerated.

South Korea already announced on Tuesday that it has requested a UN investigation into whether the missile test constituted a sanctions violation.

Currently, the UN has an resolution against North Korea, banning the country from developing or using ballistic missile technology.

"We've sent a letter to the UN Sanctions Committee," foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-Il told reporters.

North Korea has been ramping up its nuclear rhetoric of late as part of its attempts at showing its strength as a military nation.

Last week, North Korea proudly boasted about its ability to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile.

Mailonline