Cruise Missile Drill Held in Kim Ch’aek City

A cruise missile element under the Korean People’s Army [KPA] eastern command zone conducted a cruise missile drill using Hwasal-2 (Arrow-2) cruise missiles.  Other KPA artillery sub-units conducted support and training exercises.  The missile drill took place in the early morning of 23 February (Thursday) in Kim Ch’aek City (So’ngjin), North Hamgyo’ng.  The units involved, according to KCNA, “constitute one of the major forces of the DPRK nuclear deterrent.”

According to DPRK state media, the drill “successfully achieved its objective” and “reconfirmed the reliability of the weapon system and examined the rapid posture of strategic cruise missile units.” The missiles “precisely hit the present target on the East Sea of Korea after traveling the 2,000 km-long elliptical and eight-shaped flight orbits for 10, 208 s to 10, 224 s.”

The Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Central Military Commission “expressed great satisfaction over the results of the launching drill” and the drill “clearly demonstrated once again the war posture of the DPRK nuclear combat force bolstering up in every ways its deadly nuclear counterattack capability against the hostile forces”