Seoul [South Korea], August 22: North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un has overseen the launch of strategic cruise missiles as part of a drill, state-controlled media reported on Monday.
Kim watched seamen staging the drill during a visit to a naval unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The launches from a patrol ship were successful and were carried out "without even an error," according to the report.
The test aimed at making "the seamen skilled at carrying out the attack mission in actual war." South Korean Yonhap news agency said that South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff suggested many parts of the North's announcement were "exaggerated and different from facts." Observers see the test as a response to the 11-day joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States, which began on Monday, South Korean broadcasters reported.
North Korea regularly accuses the two countries of using their exercises to prepare for an attack - something Seoul and Washington deny.
The exercises are primarily aimed at countering threats from North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range, some of which are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Tests of cruise missiles are not subject to sanctions against Pyongyang. Such weapons, however, can also be used to deliver nuclear warheads.
After an unprecedented series of missile tests last year, North Korea has again tested nuclear-capable missiles several times this year.
At a tripartite summit on Friday at Camp David in the US, President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol agreed to significantly strengthen cooperation in the field of defence.
At a cabinet meeting in Seoul on Monday President Yoon expressed his hope that trilateral cooperation would reduce "the risk of North Korean provocations."
Source: Qatar Tribune
