N. Korea announces cruise missile test before Trump’s trip
(MENAFN) North Korea announced Wednesday that it conducted test-firings of sea-to-surface cruise missiles over the Yellow Sea, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, according to reports.
The missile tests followed Trump’s expression of interest in meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to South Korea on October 29–30 for the APEC meetings.
State media reported that the cruise missiles, adapted for ship-based launches, were fired vertically and traveled for over 7,800 seconds along a planned trajectory above the Yellow Sea before reaching their targets. No additional information on the missiles’ range or specifics was provided. Kim Jong Un did not personally oversee the launches.
Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of North Korea’s Central Military Commission, highlighted progress in strengthening the nation’s nuclear forces. “It is an extension of exercising the war deterrent and an act of exercising it in a more responsible manner to continuously test the reliability of different strategic offensive means and impress their abilities upon the enemies,” he said while supervising the test. He added that “it is our responsible mission and duty to ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture,” emphasizing the need to continually upgrade North Korea’s combat capabilities.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed that the missile launch was detected at 3 pm the previous day. Analysts from South Korean and US intelligence agencies are reviewing the details of the test. “Our military is maintaining a full readiness posture to respond overwhelmingly to any North Korean provocation, while closely monitoring the North's various movements under the firm combined defense posture with the United States,” the JCS stated.
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