North Korea claims testing long range cruise missiles

SEOUL: North Korea is reported to have claimed on Friday that it test-fired long-range cruise missiles in waters off its eastern coast. South Korea media showed a news program reporting on North Korea’s missile launch on Friday.

According to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the exercise that was conducted on Thursday involved an operational strategic cruise missile unit of the Korean People’s Army. The unit fired the four “Hwasal-2” missiles in the area of Kim Chaek City, North Hamgyong Province, towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The report said that the cruise missiles hit a preset target after traveling the 2000km-long elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10,208 seconds to 10,224 seconds.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries didn’t immediately confirm the North Korean launches, which state media said were intended to verify the reliability of the missiles and the rapid-response capabilities of the unit that operates those weapons.

North Korea has also issued a statement, saying that if the United States doesn’t stop its hostile practices against the country, it will be considered as a declaration of war. North Korea considers joint training exercises and the deployment of strategic assets to the Korean peninsula as “hostile practices.”