North Korea tests cruise missile from destroyer

North Korea on Monday test-fired a strategic cruise missile from its destroyer Choe Hyon, a warship often described as the country’s version of an Aegis-equipped vessel. The launch came just six days after another missile test from the same ship on March 4 and appears to be a show of force in response to the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise Freedom Shield, which began March 9.

According to the Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, leader Kim Jong Un observed the strategic cruise missile test the previous day via video link alongside his daughter Kim Ju Ae. The state news agency said the missile flew for about two hours and 48 minutes before striking a target on an island in the Yellow Sea. The Choe Hyon, launched in April last year, is North Korea’s first 5,000-ton-class destroyer. Kim said elements of the country’s war deterrence are being integrated into an increasingly sophisticated operational system and that the national nuclear force has entered a stage of diversified deployment.

Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim’s remarks signal a shift in North Korea’s nuclear posture. While the country’s nuclear capabilities had largely relied on land-based ballistic missiles, the statement suggests a transition toward a multilayered operational structure encompassing land, sea and underwater platforms.

In a separate statement Monday, a spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry commented on Iran’s reported decision to designate Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as his successor. The spokesperson said North Korea respects the Iranian people’s right to choose their own supreme leader. The statement also expressed serious concern and strong condemnation of what it described as acts of aggression by the United States and Israel, accusing them of undermining regional peace and security through what it called illegal military attacks on Iran. The statement did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump by name.


Oh-Hyuk Kwon hyuk@donga.com