The test was conducted as a show of \u201cdeterrence\u201d less than a day after the US raid on Venezuela<\/p>\n
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally observed\u00a0a\u00a0missile drill designed to test the readiness of the country\u2019s \u2018war deterrent\u2019 on Sunday\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a move that came just hours after\u00a0Pyongyang condemned recent US military\u00a0intervention in Venezuela.
\nThe drill, conducted early Sunday morning local time, involved a hypersonic missile launched from Pyongyang\u2019s Ryokpho District. It traveled 1,000 kilometers before hitting a target in the\u00a0Sea of Japan, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). State media framed the test as an operational evaluation of the country\u2019s strategic weapons.
\nWhile not explicitly linking the test to Venezuela, Pyongyang closely juxtaposed the two events in its official messaging. Around the time of the launch, the Foreign Ministry sharply denounced America\u2019s action in Venezuela as \u201cthe most serious form of encroachment on sovereignty\u201d and proof of Washington\u2019s \u201crogue and brutal nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 KCNA <\/p>\n
While overseeing the launch,\u00a0Kim Jong-un called the exercise a \u201cvery important strategic task\u201d to maintain and expand a \u201cpowerful and reliable nuclear deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Pyongyang\u2019s missile revolution: The most dangerous program you\u2019re not paying attention to<\/p>\n
\u201cOur activity is clearly aimed at gradually putting the nuclear war deterrent on a high-developed basis. Why it is necessary is exemplified by the recent geopolitical crisis and complicated international events,\u201d he stated, according to KCNA.
\nKim Jong-un praised the launch unit for \u201cplaying the prelude of the first combat drill in the new year\u201d and extended New Year\u2019s greetings to the country\u2019s missile forces, calling them a \u201creliable shield for defending\u00a0sovereignty and security.\u201d
\nNorth Korea has long insisted that its weapons programs are needed for self-defense. They have recently focused on developing\u00a0increasingly sophisticated\u00a0hypersonic missiles. Pyongyang has accused the US, South Korea, and Japan of undermining regional security by conducting joint military exercises, calling them an attempt to create an \u201cAsian version of NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The test was conducted as a show of \u201cdeterrence\u201d less than a day after the US raid on Venezuela North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally observed\u00a0a\u00a0missile drill designed to test…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}