North Korea test fires its latest cruise missile as a gleeful Kim Jong-un brags his country's 'military muscle' is being 'perfected' after weapon 'precisely' hit its target
North Korea has test-fired sea-to-surface strategic guided cruise missiles, state news agency KCNA has reported.
The media service made the claim early on Sunday, adding that the weapons 'precisely' hit their targets.
'The war deterrence means of the armed forces of the DPRK are being perfected more thoroughly,' North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said as he oversaw Saturday's test, the agency reported.
Kim also affirmed that 'DPRK will always make strenuous efforts in a responsible manner to perform its important mission and duty for defending sustainable and lasting peace and stability on the basis of more powerfully developed military muscle in the future.'
The underwater-to-surface strategic cruise missiles travelled 1,500 kilometres and flew between 7,507 and 7,511 seconds before hitting their targets, KCNA reported.
The report added that there was 'no negative impact on the security of neighbouring countries'.
KCNA did not say where the test took place.
The weapons test by Pyongyang was the first since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Monday. Shortly before his inauguration, North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.
The underwater-to-surface strategic cruise missiles travelled 1,500 kilometres and flew between 7,507 and 7,511 seconds before hitting their targets, KCNA reported
This picture taken on January 25, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on January 26, 2025 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) overseeing the test-firing of a strategic cruise and guided weapon at sea
Image shows the test-firing of a sea-based (underwater) ground-to-ground strategic cruise guided weapon, at an undisclosed location in North Korea
The muscle-flexing comes amid a storm of international condemnation and rising alarm over what the US and others say is North Korea's deployment of 11,000 troops to Russia
Trump, who had a rare series of meetings with Kim during his first term in office, said in an interview aired Thursday that he would reach out to Kim again, calling the North Korean leader a 'smart guy'.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
On Sunday, KCNA carried a statement from North Korea's foreign ministry criticising Washington and Seoul for carrying out joint military drills in recent days.
'The reality stresses that the DPRK should counter the US with the toughest counteraction from A to Z as long as it refuses the sovereignty and security interests of the DPRK,' the statement said, referring to North Korea by its official acronym.
'This is the best option for dealing with the US.'
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 23 October 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) inspecting strategic missile bases
'The war deterrence means of the armed forces of the DPRK are being perfected more thoroughly,' North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said as he oversaw Saturday's test, the agency reported
Such joint military exercises regularly infuriate the nuclear-armed North, which decries them as rehearsals for invasion.
In late October, North Korea test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It then fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles days later.
US and South Korean intelligence also believe that North Korea started in October to send thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine and has since suffered hundreds of casualties.
Western officials say about 1,000 'elite' North Korean troops who were reportedly led by Russian officers they 'don't understand' have been slaughtered in just three months while fighting Ukraine.
North Korea sent around 11,000 troops and 4,000 have been killed, wounded, are missing or captured.
Officials who spoke anonymously said that an estimated 1,000 of these were killed by mid-January.
The North Korean troops, reportedly from an 'elite' unit called the Storm Corps, appear to have been thrown into the war with little training or protection.
