January 27, 2025
SEOUL – North Korea on Sunday said it tested sea-to-surface strategic cruise-guided missiles the previous day, in its first provocation since US President Donald Trump officially began his second term.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Missile Administration test-fired the missiles on Saturday, which flew 1,500 kilometers along their flight trajectories for 7,507 to 7,511 seconds before precisely hitting their targets, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or DPRK is North Korea’s official name.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test and said that the “war deterrence means of the armed forces of the DPRK are being perfected more thoroughly,” the KCNA reported. He pledged to continue the development of his regime’s weapons program, saying that Pyongyang will achieve “lasting peace and stability on the basis of more powerfully developed military muscle in the future.”
South Korea’s military on Sunday confirmed Saturday’s test, saying that it detected “multiple firings” of cruise missiles from inland North Korea toward the Yellow Sea around 4 p.m. the previous day.
“We were aware of the signs of North Korea’s firing of cruise missiles beforehand and were prepared (for such provocations),” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a morning text message to reporters.
“The details are being closely analyzed by the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States. Under the ironclad South Korea-US joint defense posture, our military continues to monitor the North’s various activities and is maintaining a posture and capacity to counter any provocations in an overwhelming manner, so that the North won’t make any wrong judgments,” it added.
The JCS’ confirmation of the North’s testing of cruise missiles on Saturday came a day later than might have been expected. While it is customary for the South’s military to immediately confirm Pyongyang’s ballistic missile launches, it is not required to do so with tests of cruise missiles, which pose a “different” level of security threat, a Defense Ministry official told The Korea Herald.
“Ballistic missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, while cruise missiles typically carry conventional warheads — the level of security threat is different, which is why we don’t immediately confirm cruise missile launches,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
Pyongyang’s latest test launch comes less than a week after Trump returned to the White House. In a Fox News broadcast Thursday, Trump said he has plans to reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which would signal a resumption of suspended nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang, if such contact were to materialize.
Apparently addressing Trump’s remarks made Thursday, the North’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday vowed to deal with Washington with “the toughest counteraction” as long as “it refuses the sovereignty and security interests” of Pyongyang, the KCNA said in a separate report. It denounced South Korea-US joint air drills after the South Korean and the US air forces wrapped up a regular four-day combined aerial exercise on Friday.
Pyongyang’s decision to test-fire a strategic weapon despite Trump’s expression of interest in renewing talks with the North Korean leader is the reclusive nation’s “typical hardline policy” against Washington, an expert noted.
“Despite US President Donald Trump’s positive comments about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and remarks signaling a willingness to renew talks, Pyongyang’s test-firing of a strategic weapon is part of the North’s typical hard-line policy strategy against the US’ own hard-line stance against them,” said professor Im Eul-chul of Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
Last month at its year-end major party plenum, the North adopted what it referred to as its “most hard-line” policy strategy against the US, saying that the alliance among South Korea, US and Japan has developed into “an aggressive nuclear military bloc.”
“The North is likely to take a hard-line stance against Washington while trying to dissect the motives behind Trump’s remarks and possible proposals. And the war between Russia and Ukraine is likely to be a key factor in the process leading up to a possible reopening of dialogue this time, unlike during the first Trump administration,” Im explained.
Critics have expressed concerns about the growing military partnership between Pyongyang and Moscow after Seoul’s intelligence agency said that the North deployed around 11,000 troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine.
In January last year, the North fired what it claimed was a new type of strategic cruise missile named the “Pulhwasal-3-31,” which in Korean translates to “flaming arrow.” Two of the strategic cruise missiles test-fired at the time flew 7,421 and 7,445 seconds before hitting a target, the KCNA said.
“The North test-fired strategic cruise missiles multiple times in the past, but it has displayed several technological limitations — the latest was an attempt to improve these flaws,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said.
“After Pyongyang claimed to have fired an ‘ultimate’ version of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November last year, it is focusing on development and diversification of its missiles with improved accuracy, such as hypersonic and cruise missiles.”