war ii. but russian officials say kim backed out for internal reasons. the internal political situation in north korea is not settled. and internal security for kim jong-un is absolutely necessary before he ventures off, before he ventures off to a foreign trip abroad. reporter: analyst michael madden says kim is still dealing with the fallout with the enemies he made inside north korea when he executed his powerful uncle at the end of 2013. i strongly suspect that he has not attained complete loyalty, maybe not from senior elites, but at the mid-level. kim jong-un is still dealing with that. reporter: madden says kim s shaken up the top. events like this test, whether
they say it hinges on rigorous safety standards. a south korean defense official estimates north korea could have a fully operational submarine armed with missiles within five years. over the weekend, pyongyang claimed it successfully test launched a ballistic missile from a sub, as brian todd reports, u.s. officials are examining images of that event very carefully. reporter: he s seen pointing at a missile launch which north korean officials say he ordered, beaming with pride with the submarine in the background. kim jong-un claims it successfully test fired a missile from a sub. one says it is not a real test but a simulated firing. another says the u.s. is looking at whether the image of water ejection behind kim might have been photo shopped. one says this was a missile ejection system at best.
relegate this form of modern-day slavery to history. that s at this time tomorrow here on cnn newsroom, only on cnn. north korea claims to have test fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. now experts are trying to figure out how soon the system could be operational, a sobering timeline still to come, stay with us. there s some facts about seaworld we d like you to know. we don t collect killer whales from the wild.
still worrisome? yes, first, we see the white that indicates the missile did penetrate the water. and later, we see that the missile fired its engine. so this, to me, indicates that there was a successful missile test. it was not just a test of the ejection system. reporter: an official says north korea could have a fully operational submarine with a missile within four or five years, even if this test wasn t all if was claimed to be, north korea could still eventually put nuclear warheads on these missiles, could hide the missiles on merchant ships and fire them from those vessels, close to american coastlines and bases. north korea s number of warheads is reportedly growing. u.s. officials has already said they believe they have an icbm that could reach the u.s. west coast. this came on the same weekend kim had been expected in moscow for vladimir putin s grandiose celebration of the end of world