North Korea touts missile tests as Donald Trump visits South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP)

North Korea says it has conducted successful cruise missile tests, in the latest display of its growing military capabilities.

The announcement was made as Donald Trump visits South Korea on his tour of Asia.

The US president has repeatedly expressed a desire to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his trip but acknowledged difficulties in arranging a meeting.

He’s been launching missiles for decades, right?

“I know Kim Jong Un very well. We get along very well,” Mr Trump said at the beginning of his meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the city of Gyeongju.

“We really weren’t able to work out timing.”

Speaking with reporters earlier aboard Air Force One en route from Japan to South Korea, he appeared to downplay the significance of the latest North Korean missile tests.

“He’s been launching missiles for decades, right?” the US president said.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said its sea-to-surface missiles fired on Tuesday flew for more than two hours before accurately striking targets in its western waters.

Donald Trump with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

It said the weapons would contribute to expanding the operational sphere of the country’s nuclear-armed military.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and the US were analysing the weapons and maintaining a combined defence readiness capable of a “dominant response” against any North Korean provocation.

Pyongyang’s latest launches followed short-range ballistic missile tests last week which it said involved a new hypersonic system designed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent. They were North Korea’s first ballistic missile tests in five months.

North Korea has not made a direct response to Mr Trump’s overture as it has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since Mr Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with the US fell apart in 2019 due to disputes over American-led sanctions. The two leaders met three times during Mr Trump’s first term.

Many experts say North Korea is not likely to return to talks with Mr Trump any time soon unless it is assured it would get big US concessions like extensive relief of sanctions, but others say Pyongyang would find it difficult to ignore the US leader’s repeated attempts because it could become less of a foreign policy priority for Mr Trump.

Donald Trump with Kim Jong Un in June 2019 (Susan Walsh/AP)

The US leader earlier said he would be willing to extend his Asian trip — South Korea is his final scheduled stop — if there was an opportunity to talk with Mr Kim. He even suggested sanctions relief could be discussed.

Last month, Mr Kim said he would not return to talks unless Washington dropped its demand for North Korea’s denuclearisation.

Mr Kim’s top foreign policy priority is Russia. In recent months, he has sent thousands of troops and large quantities of military equipment to help fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, while embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and positioning his country as part of a united front against the US-led West.

Mr Trump is in South Korea for talks with Mr Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders’ summit set to open on Friday. The US president is likely to skip the Apec meeting.