Kim Tests Submarine-Launched Missiles After Trump Floats Meeting
North Korea said it tested submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles, as Pyongyang flexes its military muscle following Donald Trump’s fresh overtures for a meeting with Kim Jong Un.
The test on Wednesday involved two types of projectiles in waters off North Korea’s east coast, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The test-fire aimed to “get the Navy skilled in performing its strategic missions,” it said. Days earlier, North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles off its east coast.
While Kim is ramping up launches — already surpassing last year’s total number of missiles tested — he has yet to match the pace of 2022 when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine opened the door for North Korean weapons exports to Moscow.
The recent tests come after Trump said he might meet with North Korean leader Kim during an upcoming trip to Asia. Trump is slated to travel next month to the region, where he’s expected to sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.
Earlier this month, Trump also met with basketball star Dennis Rodman, who has traveled to North Korea multiple times and forged an unusual friendship with Kim.
Just as Trump tries to revive his diplomacy with Kim, North Korea has ratcheted up tensions in the region. Kim has ignored neighboring South Korea’s efforts to improve ties and urged Washington to recognize it as a legitimate nuclear state.
“North Korea is taking advantage of the US being bogged down in the war with Iran,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul. “Pyongyang is enhancing its ability to deliver nuclear weapons across a full range of platforms, from strategic and tactical ballistic missiles to submarine-launched ballistic and cruise missiles.”
The latest tests also signal Kim’s continued efforts to beef up North Korea’s naval firepower. North Korea’s navy currently consists mainly of smaller vessels for coastal defense. Kim in September said he would implement plans to strengthen the navy and vowed to prove that to the world in eight months. He didn’t specify what would be revealed.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry did not immediately have a comment about the reported missile tests when reached by Bloomberg News.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
