The reported barrage comes two weeks after Pyongyang tested a hypersonic weapon
TV broadcast of DPRK missile test, Seoul, January 14, 2024. © AFP / Jung Yeon-je / AFP
North Korea launched several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military has reported. The news comes amid rising tensions on the peninsula due to a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang and joint US-South Korean war games in the region.
Seoul will monitor for any additional signs of launches, “closely coordinating with the United States,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stated on Wednesday, describing the tests as “provocations.”
The new launch comes less than two weeks after North Korea tested a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile with a hypersonic warhead. Pyongyang later tested an “underwater nuclear weapon system,” state media reported last week, calling the move a response to navy drills carried out by South Korea, the US, and Japan, which included the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
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Seoul and Washington conducted a series of live-fire exercises near the border with North Korea last year despite repeated warnings from Pyongyang that it sees the war games as a rehearsal for an invasion. The US and its allies, however, say the drills are defensive in nature and accuse North Korea of violating international restrictions on its missile program.
The US and South Korea have recently resumed large-scale joint exercises, which were halted in 2017 as part of de-escalation efforts. Seoul has also announced that the 2018 agreement to suspend military exercises along the border is null and void following Pyongyang’s artillery tests.
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