A successful submarine launch test of North Korea’s Pulhwasal-3-31 cruise missiles was reported by the Korean Central Telegraphic Agency (KCNA).
The cruise missiles struck the target on the island after travelling for 7,421 and 7,445 seconds, or approximately two hours, according to the agency’s report.
The KCNA reports that the test launch had no discernible effect on the security of neighbouring nations. The commander of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, was extremely pleased with the test outcome.
The South Korean military had previously declared the detection of a DPRK launch of multiple cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on January 24. Following this, North Korea declared that the General Directorate of Missile Engineering executed the inaugural test launch of the Pulhwasal-3-31, an all-new strategic cruise missile currently in development.
North Korea had also previously asserted that cruise missiles were launched from a submarine. Yonhap news agency in South Korea reported that on March 12, 2023, North Korea announced the successful launch of two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine in advance of forthcoming military exercises between the United States and South Korea.
Yonhap reported that the following day, the South Korean military confirmed that North Korea had fired an unidentified missile from a submarine.
The missile was launched from the eastern coastal city of Sinpo, North Korea, on Sunday, March 12, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea.
On Sunday morning, the 8.24 Yongung submarine conducted an underwater exercise during which it tested the missiles, according to Yonhap (March 13), which cited the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) of North Korea.
After completing the eight-shaped flight orbits measuring 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) in length and lasting between 7,563 and 7,575 seconds, the missiles struck targets in the Sea of Japan, KCNA was quoted as saying by Yonhap. The exercise confirmed the new weapon system’s dependability and validated the operational posture of the nuclear war deterrence means, the KCNA said.
