North Korea on Sunday announced it had tested a cruise missile system and vowed to give a ‘strong’ response to US-South Korean military exercises targeting it. North Korea has tested the missile system for the third time this year.
The move by North Korea indicates that it will continue its weapons tests and confrontational stance against the US even though President Donald Trump has already said he will contact North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim witnessed the test of a sea-to-surface tactical cruise missile on Saturday, the official Korean Central news agency reported. ‘Strategic’ means a missile which is nuclear-capable.
The missiles traveled 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and hit their targets, the agency said, although this could not be independently confirmed. The news agency quoted Kim as saying that North Korea’s anti-war capabilities are getting better than before and he reaffirmed the country’s efforts to safeguard stability based on a more powerfully developed military force.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry criticized the Western country for “serious military provocation” targeting North Korea through a series of military drills between South Korea and the United States this month, the agency said in a separate report on Sunday.
The State Department said, “The reality is that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) must give a strong response to the US from beginning to end because the West continues to deny the sovereignty and security interests of the Korean nation and to deal with it.” This is the best option.
