The South Korean military yesterday said that North Korea fired several cruise missiles that flew over waters near a major military shipyard on the country’s eastern coast, extending a streak in weapons tests that are worsening tensions with the US, South Korea and Japan.
The launches followed a separate round of North Korean cruise missile tests last week and a Jan. 14 test-firing of the country’s first solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile. Those tests reflect North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s efforts to expand his arsenal of weapons designed to overwhelm missile defenses in South Korea and Japan and remote US targets in the Pacific, including Guam.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said they detected the missiles over waters near the North Korean port of Sinpo, where the North has a major shipyard building key naval vessels, including missile-firing submarines.
Photo: AFP
The South’s military did not immediately provide specific launch details, including the number of missiles fired, how far they flew and whether they were launched from land or naval assets.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months as Kim continues to accelerate his weapons development and issue provocative threats of nuclear conflict with the US and its Asian allies.
The US, South Korea and Japan in response have been expanding their combined military exercises, which Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals, and sharpening their deterrence strategies built around nuclear-capable US assets.
North Korea said its launches last week involved a new cruise missile called Pulhwasal-3-31 and described the test as part of regular efforts to develop its military. The North described that missile as “strategic,” implying a possible intent to arm it with nuclear weapons.
North Korea’s cruise missiles supplement the country’s huge lineup of ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the US mainland.
While North Korean cruise missile activities are not directly banned under UN sanctions, experts said those weapons potentially pose a serious threat to South Korea and Japan.
They are designed to fly like small airplanes and fly along landscapes where they could be harder to detect by radar.
Since 2021, North Korea has conducted at least 10 rounds of tests of what it described as long-range cruise missiles fired from both land and sea.
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