The U.S. Defense Department said Monday it's still scrutinizing North Korea's latest test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile amid conflicting views about whether the launch was successful.

"We're still assessing the test," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a regular briefing. "I can't say from this podium at this point exactly how best to characterize it, other than they conducted a test that we feel as once again another provocative act by the North Koreans, one that does nothing to promote stability on the Korean Peninsula."

"We're continuing to assess what they did, and again, it's just the latest in a series of steps they've taken that we think have been counterproductive. And certainly, nothing they've been doing in recent weeks is going to add to stability in the region," the spokesman said.

Regardless of what exactly took place, however, the test was a violation of U.N. resolutions, he said. 

"This was an action that again we condemn, in that their pursuit of ballistic missile nuclear weapons capabilities continues to pose a significant threat to the United States, to our allies in the region and remains obviously a significant concern," Cook said.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff has suggested that the test, conducted on Saturday, was a failure as the missile flew only about 30 kilometers, well short of its intended range. But North Korea claimed Sunday that the test was an "eye-opening success."

On Monday, John Schilling, an expert on the North's missile program, said in an article carried by 38 North that the short range in the test does not signal a failure, adding that the missile could have been carrying fuel only for that distance.

The expert also said that the test also showed the North has switched to developing a solid-fuel missile after repeated failures with a liquid-fuel engine. (Yonhap)