MDAA Alert: North Korea’s Naval Cruise-Missile Capability and Recent Kang Kon Destroyer Trials

On 3 July 2026, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed the test-firing of a “strategic” cruise missile and a battery of combat-system evaluations aboard the Kang Kon, the second of the country’s new 5,000-ton Choe Hyon-class guided-missile destroyers.