North Korea Tests Long-Flying Cruise Missiles During Trump Visit

As President Trump traveled through Asia he downplayed the likelihood of meeting Kim Jong Un during his South Korea stop, saying he wanted to focus on talks with China while remaining open to a summit. North Korea announced successful sea-to-surface cruise missile test-firings that KCNA said flew for more than two hours and accurately struck targets in western waters; state media said the tests were overseen by senior military official Pak Jong Chon rather than Kim. South Korean and U.S. forces detected the launches, are analyzing the weapons and said they are maintaining combined readiness for a “dominant response,” and the cruise-missile firings followed recent short-range ballistic and hypersonic launches. The launches occurred hours before Trump’s meetings in Gyeongju for the APEC summit — where he met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping — and commentators say Pyongyang’s weapons displays and growing ties with Russia complicate prospects for renewed diplomacy. Trump also met Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, amid trade and investment talks, and while South Korean officials call a Trump–Kim meeting unlikely a last-minute encounter has not been entirely ruled out.