蜜芽传媒

North Korea says it has carried out successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend - capable of hitting much of Japan. State media shared pictures of the missile, saying it travelled 1,500km.

It wasn't a ballistic missile (that travels higher in the sky in an arc-like trajectory) and so doesn't violate UN Security Council resolutions, but it suggests the country is still capable of developing weapons despite food shortages and an economic crisis.

Dr Robert E. Kelly, a professor of international relations at Pusan National University in South Korea, says this shows the limitations of sanctions as an effective policy.

"The North Koreans use our concern for their own people against us... and that really ties our hands. It makes it really difficult for us to bring pressure on North Korea to reign in its military spending because the regime really doesn't care... It's pretty clear that even when their own people are close to starvation they're going to keep building"

(Photo: Credit: KCNA via Reuters)

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