North Korea says it practiced firing cruise missiles able to carry nuclear weapons

Two days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the recent missile tests, including tactical nuclear drills, he oversaw the launch of two cruise missiles.

On Wednesday, the state media reported that the country’s supreme leader took stock of the missiles deployed by the Korean People’s Army. Heightening tensions in the peninsula and giving a clear warning to ‘enemies’, local media reported that Kim aimed at extinguishing any potential military crisis and war crisis.

Kim said that North Korea should continue to expand the operational sphere of strategic nuclear-armed forces to resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it, as per state media reports.

He oversaw the missile tests which travelled 2,000 kilometres over the sea and the two missiles test-fired on Wednesday and moved for 10,234 seconds, as per reports.The North Korean leader “highly appreciated the high reaction capabilities of our nuclear combat forces,” it said.

The inspection was aimed at testing to confirm the reliability and operation of nuclear-capable weapons deployed to the North Korean defence force. It was aimed atenhancing the combat efficiency and might” of cruise missiles deployed to the Korean People’s Army “for the operation of tactical nukes,” state media Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Kim Jong Un expressed ‘great satisfaction’ with the tests, which were designed to boost the combat efficiency of the missiles deployed at the units of theKorean People’s Army for the operation of tactical nukes, KCNA said.

North Korea tested a strategic cruise missile in September 2021 for the first time. Also, in 2021, Kim said that developing smaller warheads was North Korea’s top priority.