North Korea test-fires 4 strategic cruise missiles

ANKARA

North Korea on Friday confirmed that its forces successfully test-fired four strategic cruise missiles in the country's eastern region a day earlier, state-run media said.

Four "Hwasal-2" strategic cruise missiles were launched toward the East Sea of Korea from the area of Kim Chaek City in North Hamgyong Province, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

"The four strategic cruise missiles precisely hit the preset target on the East Sea of Korea after traveling the 2 000km (1,242 miles)-long elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10 208s to 10 224s," it added.

While the sub-unit of a strategic cruise missile unit of the Korean People's Army also conducted firepower training at hardened sites without live firing.

Meanwhile, the North Korean Foreign Ministry again slammed the US on Friday for using the UN Security Council as a platform against Pyongyang.

"The U.S. should bear in mind that if it persists in its hostile and provocative practices against the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) despite the latter's repeated protest and warning, it can be regarded as a declaration of war against the DPRK," Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of US Affairs, threatened in a statement.

"The U.S. should perceive intuitively and accept the consequences to be entailed by it," Kwon added.

North Korea's reaction came after the UN Security Council's 11 members condemned its recent launch of a long-range ballistic missile, but China and Russia opposed the US move in the council to reach a consensus and any further actions against Pyongyang over its missile program.

"If the UNSC has a true intention to contribute to peace and security in the Korean peninsula, it will have to bitterly condemn the U.S. and South Korea for their moves of escalating military tension such as the frequent deployment of strategic assets and large-scale joint military drills against the DPRK," said the North Korean official.

"The U.S. and South Korea are planning to visit a U.S. nuclear submarine base in the wake of staging a ‘drill for operating extended deterrence mean’, a nuclear war demonstration against the DPRK, at Pentagon. This clearly proves what phase their attempt to confront the DPRK has reached," he added.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid