(Seoul) North Korea has tested two long-range strategic cruise missiles, with leader Kim Jong-un hailing another successful display of the country’s tactical nuclear strike capability, the official KCNA news agency reported Thursday.
Posted at 6:04 p.m.
The latest test comes in a record slew of weapons tests this year that have heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula and heightened fears that Pyongyang could carry out its first nuclear test since 2017.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally supervised Wednesday’s missile launches, which traveled 2,000 kilometers over the sea, the KCNA said. She added that the projectiles hit their intended targets, without giving further details.
Kim Jong-un expressed his “great satisfaction” with the tests, which aimed to enhance the combat effectiveness of the missiles “deployed in units of the Korean People’s Army for the operation of tactical nuclear weapons”, reported the KCNA.
Pyongyang said this week that its recent missile tests were “tactical nuclear” exercises aimed at simulating a strike on the south.
Kim “highly appreciated the high response capabilities of our nuclear combat forces”, the agency reported.