North Korea’s recent missile advancements appear to be at an “elementary level,” South Korea’s defense ministry said on Thursday, responding to the DPRK’s recent tests of hypersonic and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Kim Man-gi, deputy minister for national defense policy, made the comment in his report at an annual parliamentary audit of the defense ministry, adding that South Korea detected the test-launches in real time and is ready to respond to provocation from the North.

Defense minister Suh Wook, also present at the audit at the National Assembly, assessed that the South Korean military is capable of intercepting North Korean