© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 19th expanded political bureau meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which was held from January 23 to 24, in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the Kore
By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea tested its new strategic cruise missiles for the second time in a week on Sunday, calling it a newly developed submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM), accelerating its navy’s nuclear armament, state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.
Leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of the missile, called “Pulhwasal-3-31,” which is identical to the strategic cruise missiles that the North said last week were under development.
KCNA said the missiles flew above the sea off the country’s east coast for 7,421 seconds and 7,445 seconds and hit an unspecified island target, indicating the flight time exceeded two hours.
Kim called the test a success, KCNA said, “which is of strategic significance in carrying out the plan…for modernizing the army which aims at building a powerful naval force.”
South Korea’s military said on Sunday that the North fired multiple cruise missiles off its coast but did not provide details.
North Korea’s ballistic missiles are typically more controversial and are explicitly banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions. But analysts have said intermediate-range cruise missiles were no less a threat than ballistic missiles and are a serious capability for North Korea.
In recent months, the North has tested an array of weapons that include ballistic missile systems that are under development and an underwater drone.
Kim separately inspected the construction of a nuclear submarine and discussed issues related to the manufacturing of other types of new warships, KCNA said.
