North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported early Sunday that the regime test-fired strategic cruise missiles the day before.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that “the means for war deterrence is completed” with the new missile launch, according to the KCNA report.
The launch marks the first weapons test since U.S. President Donald Trump look office on Jan. 20. Trump has since declared in an interview with Fox News that he will “reach out” to Kim for dialogue.
However, Kim appeared to signal with Saturday’s missile launch that he will not immediately respond to Trump’s proposal for talks and could continue the standoff between the North and the United States.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) also confirmed the cruise missile launches Sunday morning, saying that “the military was aware of signs of North Korea’s launches yesterday” and that “at around 4 p.m. Saturday, we tracked and monitored North Korea’s launch of several cruise missiles from inland to the West Sea, and the detailed specifications are being precisely analyzed by South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities.”
“In the current security situation, our military is closely monitoring North Korea’s various activities under a solid South Korea-U.S. joint defense posture to prevent North Korea from misjudging, and we are maintaining the ability and posture to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation,” the JCS said in a statement.
“The launched strategic cruise missiles flew along an elliptical and figure-eight orbit over a 1,500-kilometer [932-mile] flight range for 7,507 to 7,511 seconds and hit the intended targets,” the KCNA reported. “They did not have any negative impact on the safety of neighboring countries.”
According to the report, Kim said at the launch that the means of war deterrence of the regime’s military are being thoroughly perfected, and affirmed that Pyongyang will always responsibly strive to fulfill the important mission and duty of defending continuous and permanent peace and stability on the basis of more powerful and evolved military strength in the future.
The KCNA reported the launch was also attended by Kim Jong-sik, a member of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of North Korea, and Jang Chang-ha, director of the Missile General Bureau.
The weapon test-fired on Saturday is believed to be an improved version of the submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) “Bulhwasal-3-31” that was launched twice in January of last year. Despite North Korea’s claim that it is a sea-to-land strategic cruise missile, the launch site is understood to be inland, raising the possibility that it is in the early stages of testing.
The North Korea’s foreign ministry said Sunday “since the United States rejects our sovereignty and security interest, we must respond with the toughest counteraction against them.”
“The reality is that the DPRK should counter the U.S. with the toughest counteraction from A to Z as long as it refuses the sovereignty, security and interests of the DPRK and this is the best option for dealing with the U.S.,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to North Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The ministry characterized a joint four-day air exercise by Seoul and Washington last week and another recent trilateral air drill involving Japan as posing a “grave challenge” to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The statement went on to say that South Korea and the United States “will never evade the responsibility for aggravating the regional situation tby increasing in the visibility of their military nexus and provocations.”
