N. Korea says it conducted new underwater nuke weapon test, strategic cruise missile drill

North Korea has conducted a new underwater nuclear strategic weapon test and cruise missile exercise guided by leader Kim Jong-un earlier this week, Pyongyang's state media said Friday, Azernews reports citing Yonhap.

The North's Central Military Commission of the Worker's Party commanded the drills from March 21 to 23 "in order to alert the enemy to an actual nuclear crisis and verify the reliability of the nuclear force for self-defence," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The "underwater nuclear attack drone" was deployed off the coast of Riwon County of South Hamgyong Province on Tuesday and reached the target point in the waters off Hongwon Bay set as a mock enemy port with its test warhead detonating underwater on Thursday afternoon, according to the KCNA.

The drone cruised "along an oval and pattern-8 course at an underwater depth of 80 to 150 meters in the East Sea of Korea for 59 hours and 12 minutes," it added.