North Korea tests two submarine-launched missiles, state media reports

North Korea has test-fired two types of submarine-launched strategic cruise missiles in the sea off its east coast, state media KCNA reports.

The test-fire on Wednesday aimed to examine the reliability of war deterrents and improve the navy’s skill in performing strategic missions, the outlet said.

One of the missiles fired was a Pulhwasal-3-31, the same type of strategic cruise missile North Korea said it test-fired from land last week, according to KCNA.

Senior military officers observed the tests conducted at sea off the country’s east coast. KCNA added that the tests had no adverse impact on the security of neighbouring countries.

North Korea is not yet believed to have launched a modern missile submarine in full operation. This is a top military priority of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, who has overseen the development of a range of strategic ballistic and cruise missiles.

Last year, Kim Jong Un criticised a nuclear submarine deal between the US and South Korea while he toured his country’s submarine production facility, where state media images showed an 8,700-tonne nuclear-powered missile submarine under construction. On his tour, he described the deal as a threat to the stability of the Korean Peninsula, KCNA reported.

Recent developments

Pyongyang has fired off a flurry of missiles in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast, adding to a series of tests as tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang are on the rise.

On October 3, North Korea also tested a hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to evade missile defences in South Korea and Japan.

After the ballistic missile launch, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Jang Do-young said the move appeared to be a show of force as it came days after South Korea tested its own hypersonic weapon.

Last week, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung oversaw the country’s first test firing of a hypersonic missile, a rare public showcase of a missile test by a South Korean president.

Lee’s office said the hypersonic weapon, once fully developed, would enhance South Korea’s ability to strike key targets by surprise in the “Korean Peninsula theatre of operations”.

Inter-Korean relations have further soured as a landmine blast, which Seoul blamed on North Korea, wounded three soldiers in September in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries.

A joint South Korean-United Nations investigation concluded that two landmines that exploded last month in the DMZ were planted by North Korean forces about a year ago, prompting Seoul to demand an official apology.

Pyongyang has sharply accelerated military fortification along the DMZ as part of leader Kim Jong Un’s “hostile-states” policy, launched in 2023, to permanently sever ties with South Korea.

Diplomatic efforts on the Korean Peninsula have stalled since the collapse of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019 during the first Trump administration. While Trump has floated the possibility of meeting Kim Jong Un in his second term, no such meeting has materialised.