North Korea tests submarine-launched cruise missile, Seoul confirms

North Korea said Monday it has conducted submarine-launched cruise missile tests, days after its leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to be ready to repel its rivals' frantic war preparation moves.

The test on Sunday came a day before the U.S. and South Korean militaries begin large-scale joint military drills that North Korea views as a rehearsal for invasion.

North Korea's official news outlet, the Korean Central News Agency, said Monday that the missile launches showed the North's resolve to respond with overwhelming powerful forces to the intensifying military maneuvers by the the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces.

KCNA also implied that the North aims to arm the cruise missiles tested with nuclear warheads.

It said the missiles flew for more than two hours, drawing figure-eight-shaped patterns in waters off the country's eastern coast, and hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away. The missiles were fired from the 8.24 Yongung ship, KCNA said, referenci