North Korea announced that it had performed a test of its cruise missile system on Saturday. It was the communist country’s fourth known missile launch since November and the second in less than a week since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“The Missile Administration of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea conducted a test-fire of sea-to-surface strategic cruise guided weapons on January 25,” the country’s state-controlled news agency, KCNA, reported. “The test-fire of the weapon system is part of plans for building the national defense capabilities to raise the effectiveness of strategic control against potential enemies in conformity with the changing regional safety circumstances.”
Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s supreme leader, and several top military officials, including the country’s general director of the Missile Administration, observed the launch in person, according to reports. The testing appeared to be intended as a sign of military might and deterrence against the United States.
The missiles traveled a distance of 932 miles, according to KCNA. The missile test reportedly did not have a “negative impact on the security” of China, South Korea, and Japan, the countries that border North Korea.
Kim emphasized that his country will continue to develop its military weapons program and use it as a “defense capability,” KCNA reported. He also asserted that North Korea will “make strenuous efforts in a responsible manner to perform its important mission” to defend his nation and bring “lasting peace and stability on the basis of more powerfully developed military muscle in the future.”
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The communist country asserted that its recent missile launches were in response to joint military drills conducted between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, the Associated Press reported. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry deemed the drills a provocation and promised “the toughest response” to the perceived threat to its national security.
“The reality stresses that the DPRK should counter the U.S. with the toughest counteraction from A to Z as long as it refuses the sovereignty and security interests of the DPRK, and this is the best option for dealing with the U.S,” read a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
