North Korea continues flexing its military might this week, but this time notably at a moment President Donald Trump is making stops in several Asian nations, including a visit to South Korea, where he’s set to meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On Tuesday, North Korea declared a successful test of a sea-to-surface cruise missile. It marked the second such missile test by Pyongyang in two weeks. Some sources have dubbed it as a ‘strategic’ test, indicating the missile was nuclear-capable.

“Important successes are being made in putting our nuclear forces on a practical basis… for steadily expanding the sphere of application of the war deterrents,” Pak Jong Chon, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, said of the test.

“We should steadily update our combat capability. In particular, it is our responsible mission and duty to ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture,” he added.

King Jong-Un’s military had fired off short-range missiles on Oct. 22 – which importantly was the first significant arms test in five months.

Earlier this week President Trump indicated he’d be willing to meet with Kim if Pyongyang reached out and was willing, but this offer has been met with silence.

Instead Kim has been increasingly deepening his relations with Russia. DPRK troops have even died fighting on behalf of Russia in the Ukraine war.

On Tuesday, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow – with a subsequent North Korean government statement describing the talks occurred at a “time when the strategic and alliance character of the relations between the two countries has been further consolidated and their might and vitality have been fully demonstrated under the outstanding and seasoned guidance of the heads of state of the two countries.”

⚡️ North Korea tests ‘STRATEGIC cruise missile’ — Yonhap

Launch comes as Trump heads to South Korea

Missile flew over Yellow Sea, ‘DESTROYED’ target pic.twitter.com/b97NbedEHk

— RT (@RT_com) October 28, 2025

“The Russian side expressed full support for the DPRK side’s efforts and measures to firmly defend the state’s present position, security interests and sovereign rights,” the foreign ministry added.

“And the DPRK side expressed invariable sympathy and support for all the measures taken by the Russian side to remove the root cause of the Ukrainian dispute and attain the strategic goal of special military operations,” the statement continued, reaffirming support for Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’.