North Korea conducted its first weapons test since U.S. President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, firing off “strategic” cruise missiles — code for nuclear-capable weapons — as Pyongyang lashed out at the U.S. and South Korea over joint military exercises.
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) reported Sunday that leader Kim Jong Un had observed the test a day earlier, calling the underwater-to-surface strategic cruise missile system part of “war deterrence means” that “are being perfected more thoroughly.”
The missiles “precisely” hit targets after traveling along a 1,500 kilometer-long elliptical and figure-eight-shaped flight paths for 7,507 to 7,511 seconds, KCNA said, adding that the test-fire “had no negative impact” on the security of neighboring countries.