Seoul, Mar 13 (EFE).- North Korea fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday, state media reported, as Washington and Seoul were to begin their spring joint military drills in neighboring South Korea.
The weapons test took place “at dawn” on Sunday from Kyongpho Bay in Hamgyong province, according to KCNA on Monday.
The two missiles “precisely” hit a target in the Sea of Japan after flying 1,500 kilometers in figure-eight flight patterns for just over two hours.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the detection of Sunday’s test “off the coast of Sinpo” just minutes before the North’s media published the news on Monday.
Sinpo, in South Hamgyong, is the site of North Korea’s main submarine development center.
The submarine used for the launch, according to the images and information provided by KCNA, was the so-called Sinpo model, which has been dubbed “8.24 Yongung” (Hero of August 24) and which the regime has used to fire ballistic missiles in the past.
The last such North Korean test took place in October 2021.
“The drill clearly expressed the invariable stand of the Korean People’s Army on persistently controlling the present situation in which the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces are getting evermore undisguised in their anti-DPRK military maneuvers,” KCNA said.
This test, which “verified the current operation posture of the nuclear war deterrence means in different spaces,” was announced as the joint Freedom Shield military drills of Seoul and Washington began in South Korea on Monday. They will run for 10 days until Mar. 23.
Pyongyang usually considers these maneuvers as a test for the invasion of its territory and on this occasion it has promised an “unprecedented response.”
The last time the allies carried out maneuvers of this magnitude, in November, North Korea fired more than 30 missiles of various types – one of them with an intercontinental range – in just three days. EFE
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