North Korea says it tested rail-launched ballistic missiles

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Thursday it succeeded in launching ballistic missiles from a train for the first time as part of continuing efforts to bolster its “war deterrence,” a day after the two Koreas tested-fired missiles hours apart in dueling display of military might.

The launches underscored a return of tensions between the rivals amid a prolonged stalemate in U.S.-led talks aimed at stripping North Korea of its nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the North Korean launches on Wednesday were from a drill of a “railway-borne missile regiment,” which it said transported the weapons system along the rail tracks in the country’s mountainous central region and accurately struck a sea target 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

State media showed what appeared to be two different missiles streaking up from rail-car launchers engulfed in orange flames along tracks surrounded with dense trees.

The South Korean and Japanese militaries had said that two short-range ballistic missiles fired by North Korea flew 800 kilometers (500 miles) before landing in the sea inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone set outside its territorial waters. The last time a North Korean missile landed inside that zone was in October 2019.

Pak Jong Chon, a senior North Korean official who has been seen as influential in the country's missile development, said Wednesday’s tests were successfully conducted in line with the “strategic and tactical design and intention” of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. In a rare party congress in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of U.S.-led sanctions and pressure and issued a long wish list of sophisticated equipment, including longer-range...