N. Korea test-fired cruise missiles ahead of Trump's visit to S. Korea

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, shows the North test-firing sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea the previous day. Yonhap

North Korea said Wednesday it test-fired sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea the previous day, a provocation that came ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering.

North Korea's missile launch came as Trump expressed his wish to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his visit to the South from Oct. 29-30 on the occasion of the APEC meetings.

The cruise missiles, improved for ship-based launches, were fired vertically and flew for over 7,800 seconds along a preset route above the Yellow Sea to destroy the target, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, without disclosing other details, including flight distance.

The North's leader did not oversee the test firing. State media targeting domestic audience, such as the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, did not report on the latest missile launch.

Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, said the North has made important success in putting the country's nuclear forces on a "practical basis."

"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," Pak said while overseeing the test with key defense officials.

He called for the need to steadily update North Korea's combat capability.

"In particular, it is our responsible mission and duty to ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture," Pak said.

The KCNA said Pak reviewed the training of sailors of new 5,000-ton destroyers, Choe Hyon and Kang Kon, for operating the warships and their weapons systems.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missile launch at 3 p.m. the previous day, adding detailed specifications are being analyzed by South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities.

"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," it said.

The missile launch came amid North Korea's silence about Trump's offer for talks, raising speculation that the likelihood of the Kim-Trump meeting may be low.

"It's a message that North Korea will stick to its route to strengthen its nuclear forces regardless of a shift in circumstances, such as the APEC summit," said Lim Eul Chul, a professor of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University. "I say the possibility of a meeting between North Korea and the U.S. has grown slim," he added.

The latest missile launch marked the North's first firing of cruise missiles in five months.

Experts said the missiles are estimated to be one of the Hwasal-type cruise missiles disclosed during this year's annual defense exhibition held in Pyongyang earlier this month.

The North first test-fired the Hwasal-1 and Hwasal-2 cruise missiles in September 2021 and January 2022, respectively, and has since launched several Hwasal-1 and Hwasal-2 missiles that are presumed to have a normal flight range of 1,500 kilometers and 2,000 kilometers, respectively. Hwasal means an arrow in Korean.

Experts said the Hwasal cruise missiles are likely to be mounted on the vertical-launch systems of North Korea's new destroyers and employed as maritime nuclear-capable weapons.

Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the missiles' flight time suggested they could traverse about 1,500 kilometers, putting both Japan and China within reach if fired from the Yellow Sea.

This photo, captured from North Korea's Korean Central TV on Oct. 5, shows the North's Defence Development-2025, which kicked off in Pyongyang on Oct. 4. Yonhap