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North Korea Tests Cruise Missiles In Show Of Combat Readiness

The missiles flew for more than two hours, state media said, sharing photos of the missiles being fired and hitting a target.

By Temitope Abe
Updated December 29, 2025
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North Korea test-fired two strategic long-range cruise missiles, state media reported Monday, hailing the exercise as a show of “combat readiness” against foreign threats.

Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the drill — staged Sunday over the Yellow Sea to the west of the Korean peninsula — and called for “unlimited and sustained” development of his nuclear weapons forces, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

This undated picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 26, 2025, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) visiting major munitions industry enterprises to acquaint himself with the missile and shell production at an undisclosed place in North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

The goal of the exercise was to review the “counter-offensive response posture and combat capability of long-range missile sub-units,” KCNA said.

The missiles flew for more than two hours, state media said, sharing photos of the missiles being fired and hitting a target.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired Sunday at 8:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday) from the Sunan area near the capital, Pyongyang.

Kim vowed Pyongyang “would as ever devote all their efforts to the unlimited and sustained development of the state nuclear combat force”, KCNA said.

North Korea last staged a ballistic missile test in early November, around a week after US President Donald Trump — on a tour of the region — expressed interest in meeting with Kim.

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Pyongyang did not respond to the offer.

At that time, Trump had just approved South Korean plans to build a nuclear-powered submarine.

Last week, North Pyongyang showed off a nuclear submarine of its own.

Photos published by KCNA showed Kim walking alongside a purported 8,700-tonne submarine at an indoor assembly site, surrounded by officials and his daughter Kim Ju Ae.

This undated picture released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 26, 2025, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) visiting major munitions industry enterprises to acquaint himself with the missile and shell production at an undisclosed place in North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

Pyongyang viewed Seoul’s development of nuclear subs as “an offensive act severely violating its security and maritime sovereignty”, Kim said, according to KCNA.

North Korean state media last week also published a defence ministry statement condemning the docking of the US Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Greenville in South Korea’s Busan.

The cruise missile launch drill was aimed at countering these moves, said Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

This picture, taken on December 28, 2025, and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 29, 2025, shows a long-range strategic cruise missile hitting a target during a launching drill in the West Sea of North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

“The arrow-type cruise missiles, with a range of around 2,000 kilometres, are capable of striking not only the entire Korean peninsula but also the rear bases of US forces stationed in Japan,” Yang told AFP.

 

AFP

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