On Wednesday, South Korean media reported that North Korea launched multiple cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea, following recent weapons testing activities.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed the launches around 7 am, providing limited details. The JCS, in a statement quoted by Yonhap, mentioned the military’s heightened monitoring and coordination with the United States to track any further provocations from North Korea.
This marks the first such missile launch since September 2023 when Pyongyang fired two long-range strategic cruise missiles with simulated nuclear warheads into the same area. The recent missile launches occurred shortly after North Korea tested a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile with a hypersonic warhead, the first such test in the current year.
North Korean media KCNA reported a week ago that the country had tested an “underwater nuclear weapon system” in response to joint naval exercises involving the US, South Korea, and Japan. According to KCNA, these exercises posed a serious threat to North Korea’s security, prompting the testing of the underwater nuclear weapon system named Haeil-5-23 in the East Sea.
In the preceding year, Pyongyang conducted multiple tests of an alleged underwater nuclear attack drone, claiming its capability to unleash a radioactive tsunami.
Tensions between North and South Korea have escalated in recent months, marked by the abandonment of key tension-reducing agreements, increased frontier security measures, and live-fire drills along the border. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared South Korea as the principal enemy last week, disbanding agencies dedicated to reunification efforts and issuing threats of war over even minor territorial infringements, as small as 0.001 mm.
