{"id":1453,"date":"2025-02-28T15:24:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T15:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2025-02-28T15:24:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T15:24:02","slug":"north-korea-tests-strategic-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/?p=1453","title":{"rendered":"North Korea tests strategic missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Francis Tuschek<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>North Korea has test-fired strategic cruise missiles to demonstrate its nuclear&nbsp;<em>\u201ccounterattack\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;capability, the country\u2019s state news agency KCNA reported on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The missiles covered a distance of 1,587 km in an oval trajectory, taking about 2.2 hours to reach their targets, according to KCNA. This marked the fourth missile launch of the year and the second since US President Donald Trump took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The test was designed to warn&nbsp;<em>\u201cenemies, who are seriously violating the security environment of the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;and to demonstrate&nbsp;<em>\u201creadiness of its various nuke operation means,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;KCNA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2025.02\/original\/67c1953e85f54029b809bbfa.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Photos released by the news agency show the launch of a cruise missile over the West Sea of Korea, striking and destroying its target while North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the report, Kim expressed satisfaction with the drill and emphasized that the military must maintain full readiness to deploy its nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2025.02\/original\/67c1953d85f54029b809bbf8.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>South Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed tracking the test and affirmed their readiness to counter any&nbsp;<em>\u201cprovocation\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;with the support of the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December, Kim pledged to boost the country\u2019s defenses and&nbsp;<em>\u201caggressively\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;pursue the&nbsp;<em>\u201ctoughest anti-US counteraction\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;for Pyongyang\u2019s long-term security, describing the US as&nbsp;<em>\u201cthe most reactionary state.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2025.02\/original\/67c1953d85f54029b809bbf9.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The North Korean leader has branded the US alliance with Japan and South Korea as&nbsp;<em>\u201ca nuclear military bloc for aggression,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;and called South Korea&nbsp;<em>\u201can out-and-out anti-communist outpost of the US.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2025.02\/original\/67c1953a85f54029b809bbf4.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In January, North Korea successfully tested a new hypersonic missile. Kim stated that the development of the new missile system was aimed at&nbsp;<em>\u201cputting the country\u2019s nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US and South Korea have expanded the scale and frequency of their military exercises in recent years. In response, Pyongyang has intensified its missile testing program, launching more than 100 ballistic and cruise missiles since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Francis Tuschek North Korea has test-fired strategic cruise missiles to demonstrate its nuclear&nbsp;\u201ccounterattack\u201d&nbsp;capability, the country\u2019s state news agency KCNA reported on Friday. The missiles covered a distance of 1,587 km in an oval trajectory, taking about 2.2 hours to reach their targets, according to KCNA. This marked the fourth missile launch of the year and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1454,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions\/1454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}