North Korea tested a new model of “long-range cruise missile,” the state news agency announced Monday, calling it a “strategic weapon of great importance,” unleashing criticism from Washington and neighboring countries.
Trial launches took place on Saturday and Sunday and were overseen by senior officials, has indicated the Central Korean News Agency (KCNA).
Images from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed the moment a missile came out of one of the five tubes in a launch vehicle in the middle of a fireball, as well as a missile in horizontal flight.
Analysts noted that this weapon represents a major breakthrough in North Korean war technology, which increases its ability to bypass defense systems.
The missiles flew 7,580 seconds over North Korea and its territorial waters, and reached targets 1,500 km away, KCNA added.
The agency described the missile as a “strategic weapon of great significance” and added that “the efficiency and functionality of the weapons system were confirmed to be excellent.”
He further said that the development of missile system gives North Korea “another means of deterrence” to protect itself and “strongly contain the military maneuvers of hostile forces.”
– Threat –
The U.S. military commented that the launches pose “threats to North Korea’s neighbors and other nations.”
“This activity shows that the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) continues to develop its military program, posing threats to its neighbors and the international community,” the Indo-Pacific North Command said. American in a statement.
The isolated communist country faces numerous international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic programs, which it continues to develop.
It also maintains the production of cruise missiles, which it has already tested on previous occasions.
The new missile “poses a considerable threat,” Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Eha Womans University, told AFP.
“If the North has miniaturized a nuclear warhead enough, it could charge a cruise missile,” Park said.
In turn, Jeffrey Lews of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies tweeted that these missiles would be capable of launching warheads at targets “throughout South Korea and Japan.”
“A ground-based, intermediate-range attack cruise missile is a pretty serious capability,” he added.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP that they are conducting “a detailed analysis (of the evidence) in close cooperation with South Korean and US intelligence agencies.”
And the Japanese government has said it is concerned and indicated that a missile of this range “poses a threat to the peace and security of Japan and the region.”
The launches took place shortly after a low-profile parade in Pyongyang to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the country’s founding.
The missile launch of the weekend is the first in the country since March.
– Stagnant dialogue –
In addition, Pyongyang has not conducted a nuclear test or intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017.
Its nuclear talks with the United States have been stalled since 2019, and the impoverished country has shown no willingness to abandon its atomic arsenal. Rather, it has renounced South Korea’s efforts to restart dialogue.
Sung Kim, the envoy of US President Joe Biden for North Korea, has repeatedly expressed his willingness to meet with his counterparts “anywhere, anytime.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in August that Pyongyang appeared to have reactivated the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, and warned that it was a “deeply worrying” fact.
Last week, South Korea tested a self-made ballistic missile launched by submarine, a technology that the North neighbor has wanted to develop.
Pyongyang exhibited four such missiles in January during a military parade overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, And KCNA called them “the most powerful weapon in the world.”
North Korea has also released photographs of underwater launches, most recently in 2019, but analysts believe they were launched from fixed platforms and not a submarine.