Kim oversees navy cruise missile test
THIS picture taken on 12 April and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on 14 April shows the destroyer Choe Hyon conducting a test-fire of a missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
PHOTOGRAPH courtesy of ANDREJ IVANOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Seoul (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw new tests of strategic cruise missiles and anti-warship missiles launched from a naval destroyer, state media reported on Tuesday.
The weapons tests occurred on Sunday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, and are the latest in a string of recent missile launches by the nuclear-armed nation.
Two strategic cruise missiles each flew for just over two hours, according to KCNA, while the anti-warship missiles flew for 33 minutes.
The missiles flew “along the flight orbits set in the sky above the West Sea of Korea and struck the targets with ultra-precision hit accuracy,” KCNA said, using its preferred name for the Yellow Sea
The tests were carried out from the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in the North’s arsenal, both launched last year as Kim seeks to ramp up the country’s naval capabilities.
A photo released by KCNA showed a missile in its initial flight stage after being launched from the warship, with an orange flame trailing from its tail.
KCNA said Kim was also briefed on planning for the weapons systems of two more destroyers under construction, referred to simply as “Nos. 3 and 4.”
Kim reportedly “expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the preparedness of our army’s strategic action has been strengthened.”
He reiterated that bolstering the North’s nuclear deterrent was the “most important priority task.”
North Korea has previously said the Choe Hyon is equipped with the “most powerful weapons,” and Kim has made multiple inspections of the vessels in its class since last month.
Analysts told Agence France-Presse that the missile launch aimed to show North Korea’s longtime adversary, the United States, that any war would be very different from Washington’s conflict with Iran.
“The continuation of similar launches fired from a warship is a direct message to Washington that it will effectively cripple a fleet of US warships and air carriers in times of war,” Lim Eul‑chul, from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said.