North Korea test-fires 4 strategic cruise missiles to show it can launch nuclear counter-attack
- State media said the ‘Hwasal-2’ missiles hit a preset target after travelling the ‘2000km-long elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10,208 seconds to 10,224 seconds’
- The launches came as the US and South Korea held a tabletop exercise in Washington that focused on the possibility of Pyongyang using a nuclear weapon
The exercise on Thursday involved an apparently operational strategic cruise missile unit of the Korean People’s Army, which fired the four “Hwasal-2” missiles in the area of Kim Chaek City, North Hamgyong province, towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, state news agency KCNA said.
Other units conducted firepower training at hardened sites without live firing, it added.
The four strategic cruise missiles hit a preset target after travelling the “2000km-long elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10,208 seconds to 10,224 seconds,” the English-language report said.
The drill showed “the war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force bolstering up in every way its deadly nuclear counter-attack capability against the hostile forces,” said KCNA.