North Korea test fires cruise missiles to demonstrate nuclear
counterattack
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[February 24, 2023]
By Hyunsu Yim and Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea test-fired four strategic cruise missiles
during a drill designed to demonstrate its ability to conduct a nuclear
counterattack against hostile forces, its state media said on Friday.
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,
state news agency KCNA said.
Other units conducted firepower training at hardened sites without live
firing, it added.
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.
The missile launches were not announced by South Korea or Japan, which
are often the first to detect and publicly report such launches.
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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 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.
In a separate dispatch, 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.
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![](../images/022423PIX/news_o91.jpg)
A strategic cruise missile is launched
during a drill in this undated photo released on February 24, 2023
by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/24/images/ads/current/2022%20Business%20Directory%20Cover%20lda%202022.png)
North Korea has accused the United Nations has been "unfair" on its
military activities while keeping mum about U.S. and South Korean
joint military exercises.
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.
Many launches, including an intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) on Saturday, have been reported by state media as drills
designed to improve the capabilities of the troops operating the
weapons.
"These demonstrations might be considered missile exercising rather
than developmental testing," the U.S.-based Center for International
and Strategic Studies said in a report this week.
North Korea could test-fire ICBMs on a lower, longer trajectory and
conduct its seventh nuclear test this year to perfect its weapons
capabilities, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday, citing
intelligence officials.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Josh Smith; Additional reporting by
Hyonhee Shin; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.)
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