On Sunday, North Korea confirmed it had conducted a test of a cruise missile system, marking its third weapons test of the year. In response, the country promised to take “the toughest” action against what it described as the escalation of joint U.S.-South Korean military drills targeting North Korea.
This announcement signals that North Korea is likely to continue its pattern of provocative military tests and maintain its aggressive stance toward the U.S. despite President Donald Trump expressing his intentions to engage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim personally oversaw the test of sea-to-surface strategic cruise guided missiles on Saturday.
The designation of “strategic” suggests that these missiles have the potential to be nuclear-armed. KCNA reported that the missiles successfully hit their targets after following flight paths that covered 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), featuring elliptical and figure-eight trajectories. However, these details could not be independently verified.
KCNA quoted Kim stating that North Korea’s deterrence capabilities are “being perfected more thoroughly” and reiterated his country’s commitment to enhancing its military strength in order to defend its stability.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that North Korea launched several cruise missiles from an inland region toward its western waters at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday. They emphasized that South Korea, in close cooperation with the U.S., is prepared to “overwhelmingly” respond to any provocations.
In another statement published by KCNA on Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry denounced the U.S. for what it called “serious military provocations,” referring to the ongoing military exercises with South Korea earlier in January.
“The reality underscores that the DPRK must respond to the U.S. with the most severe counteraction as long as the U.S. continues to disregard the sovereignty and security interests of North Korea,” the statement read.
DPRK is an abbreviation for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal title. The warning from the Foreign Ministry echoed Kim’s earlier commitment to adopting the “toughest” stance toward the U.S. in a political meeting held at the end of the year.
North Korea perceives U.S.-South Korea military drills as rehearsals for an invasion, even though both Washington and Seoul maintain that the exercises are purely defensive. In recent years, the U.S. and South Korea have increased the scale of their military training exercises in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear capabilities.
The beginning of Trump’s second term raises expectations for a revival of diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and North Korea. During his first term, Trump held three meetings with Kim, though diplomacy stalled over disagreements regarding U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea.
In a Fox News interview aired Thursday, Trump called Kim “a smart guy” and noted that Kim is “not a religious zealot.” When asked if he would reach out to Kim again, Trump replied, “I will, yeah.”
Experts suggest that Kim may now feel he has more leverage in negotiations, given North Korea’s expanded nuclear arsenal and closer military ties with Russia.
In South Korea, there are concerns that Trump might reduce the scale of military exercises with the U.S. ally and shift focus away from North Korea’s full denuclearization, instead targeting its long-range missile capabilities, which directly threaten the U.S., while leaving North Korea’s nuclear arsenal aimed at South Korea largely intact.
On Monday, Trump referred to North Korea as “a nuclear power” in a discussion about his relationship with Kim during a press conference at the Oval Office following his inauguration. This statement marks a shift from the previous U.S. position, which has long avoided acknowledging North Korea as a nuclear state to avoid legitimizing its nuclear ambitions, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
After his first summit with Kim in 2018, Trump made a surprise announcement that he would suspend large-scale military drills, which had been seen as highly provocative by North Korea. He justified the decision by calling the drills “tremendously expensive” and unnecessary.
North Korea has not yet responded to Trump’s latest remarks. The cruise missile tests on Sunday marked the first known weapons launch by North Korea since Trump’s inauguration.
