North Korea today said that it has conducted a test of a ‘super-large’ cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area as it expands its military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and South Korea. North Korean state media said the tests attained an unspecified ‘certain goal’. North Korea conducted a similar set of tests in February, but at the time it did not specify the names of the cruise missile or the anti-aircraft missile, indicating it was possibly seeing technological progress after testing the same system over weeks.
The North Korean state media insisted that the tests were part of Pyongyang’s regular military development activities. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest in years, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dialling up his weapons demonstrations, which have included more powerful missiles aimed at the U.S. mainland and US targets in the Pacific. The United States, South Korea, and Japan have responded by expanding their combined military training and sharpening their deterrence strategies built around strategic US assets.
