Kim supervises destroyer cruise missile test amid Seoul-Washington drills

This photo, carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, shows the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, and his daughter Ju-ae overseeing a test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the destroyer Choe Hyon via video the previous day. (KCNA-Yonhap)

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the Choe Hyon destroyer, state media reported Wednesday, roughly a week after a similar launch from the same vessel.

The latest test is widely seen as a show of force against the ongoing South Korea-US joint military exercises, with the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency saying it was intended to underscore Pyongyang’s nuclear deterrence.

Kim Jong-un communicated with the warship by telephone and monitored the launch "via video link" from an undisclosed indoor location away from the site, confirming what KCNA described as "the reliability of the national strategic weapons integrated command system."

Photos released by state media showed his young daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae, seated next to him during the observation, although the KCNA did not mention her by name, as is customary. She was believed to be absent during the previous test, though the two had previously appeared together during a missile launch in January 2025.

Kim Jong-un "expressed great satisfaction that the reliability of the national strategic weapons integrated command system and the superiority of the ship’s integrated combat system had been confirmed," the KCNA reported.

"The components of our war deterrence capability are now being continuously and effectively, and at an accelerating pace, incorporated into a highly sophisticated operational system," Kim declared after the test, adding that the "state nuclear force has transitioned to a multifaceted operational stage."

The missiles were launched from the Choe Hyon, a 5,000-ton multipurpose destroyer that North Korea unveiled last year as part of efforts to strengthen its naval capabilities. The KCNA said several cruise missiles were fired in rapid succession from the No. 51 Choe Hyon destroyer off the coast of Nampo, traveling "along flight trajectories set over the West Sea of Korea for between 10,116 and 10,138 seconds" before hitting their designated island targets. This duration is just under 169 minutes, nearing North Korea’s previously reported 170-minute maximum flight time recorded during tests of the Hwasal series "long-range strategic cruise missiles" in 2022 and 2023.

According to the KCNA, the North’s leader called for further strengthening naval power and assessing the military effectiveness of automatic naval guns installed on the warship.

This photo, carried by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, shows the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the Choe Hyon destroyer the previous day. (KCNA-Yonhap)

North Korea conducted a similar strategic cruise missile test from the same vessel last week ahead of its commissioning.

The launch coincided with the start of Freedom Shield , an 11-day combined military drill between Seoul and Washington that began Monday. North Korea has long denounced such exercises as rehearsals for invasion, though the allies maintain they are defensive in nature.

A Seoul-based expert said the latest launch appears to be part of an operational evaluation of the new naval platform.

Yang Moo-jin, a distinguished professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the test — conducted just six days after the previous launch — is likely part of an operational deployment evaluation test rather than a political message directly tied to the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea held last month.

By highlighting the performance of its strategic cruise missiles amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, Pyongyang may be seeking to showcase the capabilities of its weapons systems to foreign audiences, while reinforcing the image of North Korea as a resilient military power in a volatile global security environment, he explained.

The reported flight durations indicate the missiles are likely long-range strategic cruise missiles with an estimated range of 2,000 to 2,500 kilometers, Yang said.

"With that range, the missiles appear intended less for use against South Korea and more for targeting US military bases overseas," he said, adding that the timing suggests Pyongyang is responding to the ongoing South Korea-US joint military exercises.

Yang also noted that the characteristics of strategic cruise missiles — including low-altitude flight, radar evasion and high precision — could allow them to bypass or weaken the South Korea-US missile defense network.

The presence of Kim’s daughter during the observation also carried political symbolism, Yang added.

Her participation likely reflects the ongoing process of succession education while projecting an image that nuclear and missile capabilities will be inherited by future generations, he said.

Yang also did not rule out the possibility that Pyongyang could use the test as "indirect propaganda" amid heightened tensions involving the US, Israel and Iran in the Middle East.