North Korea's Kim Jong Un supervises cruise missile test
October 13, 2022
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised long-range cruise missile tests, state media said on Thursday.
Kim described the tests as a demonstration Pyongyang's readiness for "actual war."
State media laud weapons' capabilities, provide few details
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the two missiles flew for nearly three hours.
The test showed they could hit targets roughly 2,000 kilometers (around 1,250 miles) away, the agency reported.
KCNA said that the test was aimed at improving the "combat efficiency and might" of long-range strategic cruise missiles "for the operation of tactical nukes."
Kim said the country's nuclear forces were prepared for "actual war to bring enemies under their control at a blow." He described North Korea's weapons systems as "mobile, precise and powerful."
The North Korean leader added that the missile tests send "another clear warning to enemies."
He said North Korea would "resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it."
Record number of tests this year
North Korea has run a record number of weapons tests this year. Pyongyang launched 12 ballistic missiles in a span of two weeks through October 9. One of the missiles flew over Japan.
Authorities in Pyongyang said the tests were a warning to South Korea and the US for staging joint naval exercises that including a US aircraft carrier. North Korea called the drills "dangerous."
The country has also been increasingly bellicose in recent comments on the issue.
Last month, Pyongyang's parliament passed a low that allowed, among other things, for the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against South Korea or the United States in the event of an attack on North Korea's leadership.
The country also said that it would only give up its nuclear arsenal if there were global disarmament, in a blow to those still hoping to negotiate Pyongyang's disarmament individually.
South Korean officials say the North could conduct a nuclear test in the coming months.
This coincides with a change of leadership in the South earlier this year, when Yoon Suk-yeol, who is deemed more hawkish on Pyongyang than his predecessor, won the presidency.
sdi/msh (AP, dpa)