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North Korea has carried out a successful cruise missile test, its state media has said, as US President Donald Trump visited South Korea for trade talks.
Pyongyang fired sea-to-surface missiles, which flew for two hours and hit targets in its western waters on Tuesday, according to the country’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Pak Jong-chon, North Korea’s vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, described it as an important success in its mission to “ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture”.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and Washington were analysing the incident, reiterating that they were capable of a “dominant response” if provoked by North Korea.
The latest weapons test came as Trump headed from Japan to South Korea, where he subsequently held talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday.
Speaking on Air Force One as he flew to South Korea, the US president appeared to downplay the importance of Pyongyang’s latest missile test.
“He’s been launching missiles for decades, right?” Trump said.
During his first trip to Asia since returning to the White House in January, Trump has indicated his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet,” he said on Monday.
Speaking from the South Korean city of Gyeongju on Wednesday, Trump suggested that he and Kim, who met three times during his previous presidential term, “get along very well”.
“We really weren’t able to work out timing,” he said of their failure to meet this week.
North Korea has not commented publicly on Trump’s wish for a meeting. However, Kim said last month that his country would not restart talks with the US unless Washington dropped its demand for North Korean denuclearisation.
Under Kim’s leadership, North Korea has aligned itself more closely with Russia, sending Moscow thousands of troops to help with its all-out war against Ukraine.
Additional sources • AP