SEOUL: North Korea said Thursday it test-fired a new strategic cruise missile, named “Pulhwasal-3-31,” for the first time the previous day in what was seen as an effort to strengthen capabilities to deliver nuclear weapons.
The North’s Missile General Bureau said the test-fire is a “process of constant updating of the weapon system and a regular and obligatory activity of the agency and its affiliated defence science institutes,” Yonhap news agency reported citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The report did not provide details, such as how far the missile flew.
It marked the North’s first known cruise missile launch since September last year when the country test-fired two long-range strategic cruise missiles with mock nuclear warheads toward the Yellow Sea. At that time, Pyongyang said the missiles travelled 1,500-km-long eight-shaped flight orbits.
Last year, the North also tested Hwasal-1 and -2 cruise missiles presumed to be capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons.
Experts said the Pulhwasal-3-31 may be a short-range missile, given that a photo carried by the KCNA showed its overall length is shorter than previous Hwasal-type cruise missiles.
Hwasal means an arrow in Korean, and Pulhwasal means a fire arrow.
Cruise missiles fly low and manoeuvre, making them better at evading missile defences.
On Wednesday, the South Korean military said it detected the North’s launches of several cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea at around 7 am.
The launch of a cruise missile is not a direct violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions banning the North’s use of ballistic missile technology. But it could pose a serious threat to a country’s security as nuclear warheads can be mounted on such missiles.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for an “exponential” increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal and the development of tactical nuclear weapons against South Korea, according to Yonhap.
The latest provocation came after North Korea launched a solid-fuel hypersonic missile into the East Sea on Jan. 14 in its first missile firing this year.
Pyongyang also claimed last week it had tested an underwater nuclear attack drone in protest of the latest joint military drills among South Korea, the United States and Japan.
North Korea has dialed up tensions on the Korean Peninsula with weapons tests and hard-worded rhetoric in an election year for South Korea and the US. – BERNAMA-YONHAP
