Kim Jong-un oversees strategic cruise missile test fire from navy ship amid US-South Korea drill

Launch aims to verify ‘combat function of the ship and the feature of its missile system’

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test firing of strategic cruise missiles from a navy ship as Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual military drills.

Mr Kim observed the test aboard a warship during an inspection of a navy fleet stationed on the east coast, reported state-run news agency KCNA on Monday.

The launch aimed to verify the “combat function of the ship and the feature of its missile system”, while improving sailors’ capability to carry out an “attack mission in actual war”, KCNA said, adding that the ship’s missile hit its target.

Mr Kim said the ship would maintain “high mobility and mighty striking power and constant preparedness for combat to cope with sudden situations,” reported KCNA.

The North Korean leader said he would bolster efforts to build powerful warships and modernise shipboards along with underwater weapons systems for the country’s navy.

He also called on the sailors to build “overwhelming ideological and spiritual strength”, saying that is more important than numerical or technical superiority of weapons, reported KCNA.

The state-run mouthpiece did not say when the missile launches happened and a photo released by it showed Mr Kim watching the launch of a missile from another place, not on the patrol boat.

An undated photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 21 August 2023 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) inspecting a flotilla of the East Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) in North Korea (EPA)

KCNA’s use of the word “strategic” in reference to the tested weapons implied they were developed to carry nuclear warheads.

While South Korea’s defence ministry issued a statement saying it had detected signs of the launch, it also said the KCNA’s claims were “exaggerated” and “different from the facts”, while not elaborating further.

North Korea was widely expected to resume weapons tests in reaction to the summer US-South Korean “Ulchi Freedom Shield” training that began on Monday for an 11-day run.

A computer-stimulated command post exercise, it is designed to enhance their joint responses to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

President Yoon Suk-yeol said the drills would feature several contingency scenarios, such as cyber, terror and drone attacks, and a potential disinformation campaign by the North.

“True peace is preserved only by overwhelming force, not by one-sided begging or goodwill,” Mr Yoon told a meeting of the National Security Council.

“North Korea talks about preemptive nuclear strikes and preparations for an offensive war, but we will immediately and overwhelmingly retaliate for any provocations.”

North Korea has denounced the West’s drills as practice for an invasion, while the allies called their military exercises defensive in nature and not aimed at attacking the North.

In this undated photo provided on Monday, 21 August 2023, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a navy flotilla in North Korea (AP)

Since the start of 2022, North Korea performed more than 100 weapons tests, some of them nuclear-capable ballistic missiles designed to strike the US mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan. The US and South Korea have expanded their regular training exercises in response.

During their summit at Camp David, the South Korean president along with his US counterpart Joe Biden and Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said they intend to put into operation by year’s end the sharing of real-time missile warning data on North Korea and hold annual trilateral exercises.

This was the first ever stand-alone summit held by the three countries, and the leaders said they are committed to pursuing enhanced ballistic missile defence cooperation to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

North Korea has said the three countries’ push to strengthen their security cooperation is compelling it to reinforce its own military capability.

Additional reporting by agencies