China calls for restraint as North Korea tests cruise missile able to reach Japan

Name: Kim Jong-un adds new title: general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party
Uploaded: 2021-09-13T11:15:15.000Z
Duration: 2 min 25 s
Description: Kim Jong-un adds new title: general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party

Pyongyang breaks lull in testing with ‘strategic weapon of great significance’, KCNA says, but some experts see moderate military gains

Move ahead of Korean denuclearisation talks in Tokyo makes one analyst call for ‘serious pressure’, as concessions only seem to inspire more bad behaviour

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People watch a South Korean news programme reporting on North Korea’s long-range cruise missiles tests, in Seoul on September 13. Photo: AP

Kristin Huang

Published: 7:15pm, 13 Sep 2021Updated: 9:35pm, 13 Sep 2021

North Korea’s cruise missile tests over the weekend may have caught the world off guard, and prompted “concern” in neighbouring Japan, but indicate only a limited increase in the country’s military strength, according to analysts.

However, Pyongyang’s latest move was certain to disappoint North Korea doves and make the hawks harden their stance, they said, as China called for restraint in the region.

That came after the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that North Korea had successfully carried out tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend.

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The missiles are “a strategic weapon of great significance” and flew 1,500km (930 miles) before hitting their targets and falling into the country’s territorial waters during the tests on Saturday and Sunday, KCNA said. They travelled for 126 minutes along “oval and pattern-8 flight orbits”, it reported on Monday.

The missile tests, which appear to be the country’s first since late March, came days after North Korea celebrated the 73rd anniversary of its founding with a military parade in Pyongyang.

They also came just a day before senior officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan were due to meet in Tokyo to discuss North Korean issues, including denuclearisation. Also, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to visit Seoul this week for talks with his counterpart Chung Eui-yong, on the final stop of a week-long four-nation regional tour.

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China’s foreign ministry on Monday called for restraint in the Korean peninsula, while reiterating Beijing’s long-term stance on a solution via dialogue.