North Korea tests new missile, Kim Jong-un warns `hot` 0
(Dan Tri) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised a new missile test and ordered tighter defense arrangements near the western sea border.
A photo posted by North Korean media on February 15 shows North Korea’s new missile test under the supervision of leader Kim Jong-un (Photo: Reuters).
North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korea tested a new missile called Padasuri-6 on February 14.
KCNA said the missile hit the target after flying over the eastern sea for about 1,400 seconds, equivalent to 23 minutes and 20 seconds.
This is North Korea’s fifth cruise missile launch this year.
According to KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered to strengthen defenses in the waters north of South Korea’s border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, and said South Korean warships regularly violate the waters.
Mr. Kim accused South Korea of sending warships and patrol boats to protect the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
`Now is the time to thoroughly protect our maritime sovereignty through a real exercise with military force, not through any rhetoric or declarations,` Mr. Kim emphasized.
`If the enemy violates the maritime border that we recognize, we will consider it an infringement of our sovereignty and a military provocation,` Mr. Kim warned.
The waters near the NLL were once a flashpoint between South Korea and North Korea, where three naval skirmishes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2009. In March 2010, Pyongyang was accused of torpedoing a warship
At a parliamentary meeting in January, the North Korean leader warned that if South Korea violated even 0.001 mm of North Korea’s land, airspace or sea territory, it would be considered a provocation.
Last month, North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into waters near its heavily guarded western border, prompting the South Korean military to conduct live-fire exercises in response.
North Korea has defused tensions on the Korean Peninsula with weapons tests and tough statements this year, including launching cruise missiles from sea and land, as well as hypersonic missiles.
On January 24, North Korea for the first time test-fired a new strategic cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, named Pulhwasal-3-31.
On January 28, North Korea launched a cruise missile from a submarine off the east coast, then continued to conduct two more tests involving the Hwasal-2 strategic cruise missile from the coast.
Experts believe that North Korea’s unusually fast pace of cruise missile testing is aimed at improving the performance of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
