State News

North Korea says it tested new ‘long-range cruise missile’

North Korea has test-fired what it called a new type of “long-range cruise missile” over the weekend, the country’s state Korean Central News Agency reported amid a long standoff with the United States over denuclearisation.

The test launches, which took place on both Saturday and Sunday, were observed by high-level officials, KCNA said early on Monday, adding that the tests had been carried out “successfully”.

The missiles travelled for 7,580 seconds along “oval and pattern-8 flight orbits” above North Korea and its territorial waters, and hit targets 1,500 kilometres (about 930 miles) away, KCNA said.

The report called the missile a “strategic weapon of great significance”, adding that “in all, the efficiency and practicality of the weapon system operation was confirmed to be excellent”.

It also said the development of the missile system held “strategic significance”, giving North Korea “another effective deterrence means” for protecting the state and aiding in “strongly containing the military manoeuvres of the hostile forces”.

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