North Korea's New Cruise Missile Could Carry Nuclear Warheads, United States: A Threat To Neighbors

Illustration of a North Korean cruise missile firing. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) said the test-firing of North Korea's latest long-range cruise missile last weekend posed a threat to neighbors with analysts predicting the missile could carry a nuclear warhead.

The US through its military command said on Sunday local time that North Korea's missile test-firing over the weekend poses a "threat" to neighboring and surrounding countries.

"This activity highlights the DPRK (North Korea's) ongoing focus on developing its military program, as well as the threats it poses to its neighbors and the international community", US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) said in a statement, using North Korea's official name.

The US Indo-Pacific Command statement said the United States would continue to monitor the situation and consult closely with its allies and coalition partners in the region, namely South Korea and Japan while proving a commitment to building strong defenses.

North Korean state media reported early Monday that the country had test-fired a new long-range cruise missile on Saturday and Sunday, amid a long stalemate with the United States over its nuclear program.

The missiles traveled a flight path of 1.500 km, including a figure-eight pattern, over North Korea and its territorial waters to reach their targets, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea is under international sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, which it says needs to be defended against a US invasion. However, Pyongyang is not barred from developing cruise missiles, which have been tested before.

"This will be the first cruise missile in North Korea to be explicitly designated as a 'strategic' role. It is a common euphemism for a nuclear-capable system", said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

It's unclear whether North Korea has mastered the technology needed to build a warhead small enough to carry on a cruise missile, but North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said earlier this year developing a smaller bomb was a key goal.

Separately, Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said medium-range land-attack cruise missiles are no less a threat than ballistic missiles and are a serious enough capability for North Korea.

"This is another system designed to fly under missile defense radars or in the vicinity", Lewis wrote on Twitter.

Cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles that can be armed with conventional or nuclear bombs are particularly destabilizing in the event of a conflict because it is unclear what type of warhead they carry, analysts say.