North Korea says it successfully tested newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known test activity in months.
The Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the cruise missiles, which had been in development for two years, had demonstrated the ability to hit targets at a distance of 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) in flight tests on Saturday and Sunday.
The North hailed its new missiles as “a strategic weapon of great importance,” in line with President Kim Jong Un’s call for strengthening the country’s military might, and implied that they were designed with the intention of arming them with nuclear warheads.
North Korean state media released photos of a projectile fired from a launch vehicle and what appears to be a winged and tail-fin missile that was floating in the air.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the military was analyzing North Korean launches based on U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies. The US Indo-Pacific Command said it is monitoring the situation with allies and North Korean activities reflect an ongoing focus on “the development of its military program and the threats that pose to its neighbors and the international community”. Japan said it was “extremely concerned”.
Kim doubled his promise to heighten his nuclear deterrent in the face of US sanctions and pressure during a ruling Labor Party congress in January. He posted a long wish list of new sophisticated assets, including longer-range ballistic ICBMs, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites, and tactical nuclear weapons. Kim also said at the time that his national defense scientists were developing “medium-range cruise missiles with the world’s most powerful warheads.”
North Korea’s weapons tests are said to build a nuclear and missile program that can withstand alleged US and South Korean hostility, but they are also seen by outside analysts as a way to get their political demands across to leaders in Washington and Seoul.
The north’s resumption of testing is likely an attempt to pressure the Biden administration over diplomatic freezing after Kim failed to use his arsenal for economic gain during Donald Trump’s presidency.
North Korea ended a year-long ballistic test hiatus in March by launching two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.
But there were no known test starts months after that as Kim focused national efforts on fending off the coronavirus and saving its economy.
KCNA said the missiles tested over the weekend flew “along an oval and pattern-8 trajectory” over North Korean land and water for 126 minutes before hitting their targets.
“The test starts showed that the technical parameters such as the thrust of the newly developed turbine blast engine, the navigation control of the missiles and the guided hit accuracy thanks to the combined guided mode met the design requirements. Overall, the efficiency and practicability of the weapon system was confirmed as excellent, ”it said.
It appeared that Kim wasn’t there to watch the tests. KCNA said Kim’s chief military official, Pak Jong Chon, watched the test shots and urged the country’s defense scientists to “do everything possible to increase the north’s military capabilities.”
Japanese Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said North Korean missiles of such a range pose “a serious threat to the peace and security of Japan and its environs.”
“We are extremely concerned,” said Kato, referring to the Japanese efforts to strengthen its missile defense capabilities. He said Tokyo was working with Washington and Seoul to gather information on North Korea’s latest tests, but said there was no immediate indication that the weapons had entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Kim’s powerful sister hinted last month that North Korea was ready to resume weapons testing, while also issuing a statement berating the United States and South Korea for continuing their joint military exercises in what she believes is “the liveliest expression of hostility US policy ”.
She then said the North would increase its pre-emptive strike capabilities while another senior official threatened unspecified countermeasures that would put the allies in a “security crisis.”
The Allies say the exercises are defensive in nature, but they have canceled or scaled them down in recent years to make room for diplomacy or in response to COVID-19.
Talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled since the failure of a Trump-Kim summit in 2019 when the Americans rejected calls by the North for extensive sanctions against a partial abandonment of its nuclear capabilities. Kim’s government has so far rejected the Biden government’s offers of dialogue and demands that Washington first give up its “hostile” policies.
The latest tests came after Kim held an unusual parade in the capital, Pyongyang last week, which marked a marked departure from previous militaristic demonstrations that showed anti-virus workers in protective suits and civil protection organizations engaged in industrial and reconstruction work Flooding destroyed communities were involved, instead of missiles and other provocative weapons.
Experts said the parade focused on internal unity as Kim now faces what is perhaps his toughest test as the floods worsened over the past few summers.
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Associate press journalist Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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