North Korea celebrated its national day - to mark the 73rd anniversary of its founding - on September 9. It marked the day with a midnight military parade in Pyongyang.
According to North Korean state media KCNA, the message read: "As the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea celebrate their National Day, I send my good wishes for the future."
North Korean state media KCNA published the message on Monday, reporting that "Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), received a message of greeting from Elizabeth II, queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on September 7."
Queen Elizabeth II sent a message to the people of North Korea and their leader Kim Jong Un to congratulate them on their national day. Photo / Getty
The message from the Queen came just days before North Korea successfully test-fired new long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, according to the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The tests were carried out over the course of two days, on Saturday and on Sunday, and destroyed targets more than 1500k away from the launch site.
According to KCNA, the new missiles travelled for 7580 seconds along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters of North Korea.
It is understood the weapons had been in development for two years.
Unlike ballistic missiles, cruise missiles are propelled by jet engines, like an airplane, and stay closer to the ground, making them harder to detect.
Pyongyang hailed the tests as success, claiming that the launch has confirmed all the technical features of the new weapon, including the power of its propulsion system, the missile's controllability and its accuracy.
The missiles offer "another effective deterrence means for more reliably guaranteeing the security of our state and strongly containing the military manoeuvres of the hostile forces against the DPRK", the agency said.
