North Korean state media announced today that the regime fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday.
The weapons test, which comes on the eve of the start of the great spring maneuvers of South Korea and the US, took place "at dawn" on Sunday and was carried out from Kyongpho Bay, in the province of South Hamgyong (northeast of the country), according to the KCNA agency.
The two missiles hit "with precision" the simulated target in the Sea of ​​Japan (called the East Sea in the two Koreas) after flying 1,500 kilometers "with eight-shaped flight orbits" for just over two hours.
For its part, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced the detection of the test just minutes before the northern media published the news.
"The Army of the Republic of Korea (official name of the South) detected an unknown missile tested yesterday (March 12) morning from a submarine off the coast of Sinpo, North Korea."explained the JCS in a brief statement, which added that "the specifications are being carefully analyzed" by South Korean and US intelligence authorities.
Sinpo, in South Hamgyong, is the site of North Korea’s main submarine development center.
The submarine used for the launch, according to the images and information offered by KCNA, is the so-called Sinpo model, which has been baptized as "8.24 Yongung" ("Hero of August 24") and which the regime has previously used to fire ballistic missiles.
The last such North Korean test took place in October 2021.
"The drill clearly exhibited the control position of the Korean People’s Army over the current situation in which the military exercises against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North’s official name) of the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces are carried out. less and less concealed"KCNA added.
This essay, which "verified the North Korean nuclear deterrent capacity in different areas"has been announced the same day that the joint spring maneuvers of Seoul and Washington Freedom Shield begin in the South, which will last until March 23.
Pyongyang usually sees these maneuvers as a rehearsal to invade its territory and on this occasion has promised to give "an unprecedented response".
The last time the allies carried out maneuvers of this magnitude last November, North Korea fired in response more than 30 missiles of different types – one of them with an intercontinental range – in just three days.