SEOUL – North Korea fired several cruise missiles on Jan 28, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state.

The launch comes just days after Pyongyang fired multiple cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea, which it said was a first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles.

Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an “underwater nuclear weapon system” and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile.

“Our military detected several unidentified cruise missiles fired near waters around North Korea’s Sinpo area at 8am (7am Singapore time) today,” the JCS said in a statement.

It said the launch was under analysis by the South Korean and United States intelligence authorities, adding that it was “closely monitoring North Korea’s additional movements and activities”.

Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise missiles tend to be jet-propelled and fly at a lower altitude than more sophisticated ballistic missiles, making them harder to detect and intercept.

On Jan 25, North Korea said it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31, a day earlier. The test was “a process of constant updating of the weapon system and a regular and obligatory activity”, state news agency KCNA said. It did not specify how many missiles were fired.

“The test-fire had no impact on the security of neighbouring countries and has nothing to do with the regional situation,” the agency said.

The latest launch came a day after a Chinese delegation led by Vice-Foreign Minister Sun Weidong returned home following a three-day visit to Pyongyang, during which both sides vowed to boost tactical cooperation and defend common interests.

In a separate dispatch on Jan 28, KCNA said a North Korean delegation headed by Sports Minister Kim Il Guk left on Jan 27 for China.

Earlier on Jan 28, KCNA denounced a series of military drills conducted in recent weeks by US and South Korean troops, warning of “merciless” consequences.

“The reality that nuclear war exercises against our republic have been going on like crazy since the beginning of the new year demands that we be fully prepared for a deadly war,” the dispatch said.

Deteriorating ties

North Korea carried out its first test of a cruise missile with possible nuclear strike capabilities in September 2021.

Recent months have seen a sharp deterioration in ties between the two Koreas, with both sides jettisoning key tension-reducing agreements, ramping up frontier security, and conducting live-fire drills along the border.

Earlier in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared the South his country’s “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001mm” of territorial infringement.

In Seoul, President Yoon Suk-yeol told his Cabinet that should the nuclear-armed North carry out a provocation, South Korea would hit back with a response “multiple times stronger”, pointing to his military’s “overwhelming response capabilities”.

At Pyongyang’s year-end policy meetings, Mr Kim threatened a nuclear attack on the South and called for a build-up of his country’s military arsenal ahead of armed conflict he warned could “break out any time”.

In January, the North launched a solid-fuel hypersonic missile, just days after it staged live-fire exercises near its tense maritime border with South Korea, which prompted counter-exercises and evacuation orders for some border islands belonging to the South.

Mr Kim also successfully put a spy satellite into orbit in late 2023, after receiving what Seoul said was Russian help, in exchange for arms transfers for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. AFP, REUTERS