Pyongyang also fires long-range strategic cruise missile to hit virtual airport, state media report
North Korea has tested a “newly designed advanced air-defence missile system,” state media reported on Thursday.
Gen. Kim Jong Sik, a member of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday guided the test-fire, which aimed at confirming the technical specifications of the air-defence missile system, KCNA reported.
The confirmation came a day after South Korea said Pyongyang had launched multiple missiles.
“The test-fire proved the technical specifications and reliability of the new material and intelligent multiple guided mode of the projectile, target identification and tracking capability of the air-defence missile system and its detection information processing device,” KCNA said.
In a separate test on the same day, a North Korean military long-range strategic cruise missile unit in the eastern area “gave a fire strike drill demonstration” on Wednesday, the report added without specifying the region.
Read more: N Korea tests cluster-bomb warheads
“The sub-unit involved in the drill perfectly performed its mission to strike a virtual airport target with a long-range strategic cruise missile,” it added.
This was the fourth time in a week, after Pyongyang fired a 600-millimetre “ultra-precision” multiple rocket launcher last Thursday.
It also tested a cluster bomb mounted on tactical ballistic missiles on Saturday and a “dispersal warhead” for a strategic cruise missile on Monday.
The back-to-back missile tests by Pyongyang come amid joint drills held by South Korea and the US, as well as tensions on the Korean Peninsula between Seoul and Pyongyang.
Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for an explosion inside the Demilitarised Zone on Sept. 21, which wounded three South Korean soldiers.
North Korea has rejected accusations and has not responded to Seoul’s offer to restore military communication to ease tensions.
