North Korea Tests New Strategic Cruise Missile Pulhwasal-3-31

North Korea's new strategic cruise missile test. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea said it carried out a test launch of its latest cruise missile on Wednesday, state media KCNA reported on Thursday, confirming the South Korean military's statement

The missile is nicknamed "Pulhwasal-3-31". It said the missile was under development and the test launch had no impact on the security of neighboring countries, state media said, adding it had "nothing" to do with the regional situation, reported Reuters, January 25.

The test was also part of North Korea's weapons system upgrade process, the report said, citing The Missile Administration.

Separately, South Korea said it believed the shooting was to test improvements to existing missile capabilities.

Earlier, Seoul's military on Wednesday said Pyongyang had fired several cruise missiles towards the sea off its west coast at around 7 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik condemned the launch as a serious threat by North Korea against his country.

It said the word "strategic" usually refers to nuclear-capable weapons. North Korea itself conducted its first test of a cruise missile with possible nuclear attack capability in September 2021.

North Korea's cruise missiles typically attract less attention than ballistic missiles, because they are not explicitly banned by UN Security Council resolutions.

However, analysts say ground-attacking medium-range cruise missiles are no less of a threat than ballistic missiles, representing a serious capability for North Korea.

Cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles, which can be armed with conventional or nuclear bombs, are seen as highly destabilizing in the event of conflict, because it is unclear what type of warhead they carry.