North Korea fires strategic cruise missiles

North Korea has fired four strategic cruise missiles in a nuclear counterattack drill.

According to state media reports, the exercise on Thursday involved an apparently operational strategic cruise missile unit of the Korean People’s Army, which fired the four “Hwasal-2” missiles in the area of Kim Chaek City, North Hamgyong Province, towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The launch came as U.S. and South Korean officials took part in a tabletop, or simulated, exercise that focused on the possibility of North Korea using a nuclear weapon.

South Korea’s defence ministry said the launch was monitored but there were “differences” between what it and the United States detected and the North’s statement, without elaborating.

The four strategic cruise missiles hit a preset target after travelling the “2,000km-long (1,243 mile) elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10,208 seconds to 10,224 seconds,” the report said.

The drill demonstrated “the war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force bolstering up in every way its deadly nuclear counterattack capability against the hostile forces,” KCNA said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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Meanwhile, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry criticised Washington and its allies for calling a meeting of the UN Security Council over its spate of recent missile tests.

Kwon Jong Gun, the ministry’s director general for U.S. affairs, reiterated North Korea would consider strong countermeasures if the United Nations continues to serve as a U.S. tool to pressure Pyongyang.

“If the Security Council becomes a venue that judges justice for injustice and legal for illegal, under the influence of the United States and its followers, it would only cause negative results that further exacerbate military tension,” Kwon said in a statement carried by KCNA.

North Korea has forged ahead in developing and mass producing new missiles, despite sanctions imposed by United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the nuclear-armed country’s missile activities.

Zainab Sa’id