North Korea on missile spree, now test-fires railway-borne missile with 800-km range

North Korea has launched a railway-borne missile with a mission to strike the target area 800 km away, the state media reported on Thursday.

Pak Jong Chon, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, guided the test firing drill of the missile regiment on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the KCNA report.

"The test firing drill took place for the purpose of confirming the practicality of the railway-borne missile system deployed for action for the first time, of judging the combat readiness and capability of performing firepower duty of the newly-organised regiment all of a sudden and of attaining proficiency in the action procedures in case of fighting an actual war," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report.

Pak said the railway-borne missile system serves as an efficient counter-strike means capable of dealing a harsh multi-concurrent blow to the threat-posing forces through separate performances of firepower duty in different parts of the country.

Long-range cruise missiles

Wednesday's launch comes only days after the North Korea, claimed to have successfully tested new type of long-range cruise missiles, which was also attended by Pak.

North Korea successfully test-fired new type of long-range cruise missiles on Saturday and Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.

The launched long-range cruise missiles traveled for 7,580 seconds along oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters of North Korea and hit targets 1,500 km away, Xinhua news agency cited the KCNA report as saying.

The development of this weapon system "holds strategic significance of possessing another effective deterrence means for more reliably guaranteeing the security of our state and strongly containing the military maneuvers of the hostile forces against North Korea", the state media noted.

US condemns test

The US has condemned ballistic missile launches by the North Korea, calling on Pyongyang to engage in meaningful dialogue with Washington.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday that the US condemns the North Korea missile launches, Xinhua news agency reported.

He noted "these missile launches are in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions ... they pose a threat to the North Korea's neighbours and other members of the international community."

In the meantime, Price said Washington is still committed to a diplomatic approach to Pyongyang to pursue the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

"We call on the North Korea to engage in a meaningful and substantive dialogue with us," he added.

"We've been very clear in the messages that we have conveyed to the North Korea that we stand ready to engage in that dialogue."

Price also reaffirmed that U.S. commitment to regional allies is ironclad.

Engaging Pyongyang

The Biden administration has repeatedly suggested that it seeks to engage with Pyongyang over the denuclearisation issue but showed no willingness to ease sanctions.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that the North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into eastern waters.

The missile launch came two days after Pyongyang said it successfully test-fired new type of long-range cruise missiles on Saturday and Sunday.

Also on Wednesday, the presidential Blue House said that South Korea successfully test fired a homegrown submarine-launched ballistic missile.