North Korea tests submarine-launched cruise missiles, KCNA says

View of what appears to be a submarine-launched cruise missile test at an undisclosed location in North Korea in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency on January 28, 2024. KCNA via REUTERS

SEOUL — North Korea tested its new strategic cruise missiles for the second time in a week on Sunday, calling it a newly developed submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM), accelerating its navy’s nuclear armament, state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

Leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of the missile, called “Pulhwasal-3-31,” which is identical to the strategic cruise missiles that the North said last week were under development.

READ: South Korea: North fires cruise missiles in provocative tests

KCNA said the missiles flew above the sea off the country’s east coast for 7,421 seconds and 7,445 seconds and hit an unspecified island target, indicating the flight time exceeded two hours.

Kim called the test a success, KCNA said, “which is of strategic significance in carrying out the plan…for modernizing the army which aims at building a powerful naval force.”

South Korea’s military said on Sunday that the North fired multiple cruise missiles off its coast but did not provide details.

North Korea’s ballistic missiles are typically more controversial and are explicitly banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions. But analysts have said intermediate-range cruise missiles were no less a threat than ballistic missiles and are a serious capability for North Korea.

In recent months, the North has tested an array of weapons that include ballistic missile systems that are under development and an underwater drone.

Kim separately inspected the construction of a nuclear submarine and discussed issues related to the manufacturing of other types of new warships, KCNA said.