Cruise Missiles Fired by North Korea Into the Yellow Sea

According to Seoul’s military, North Korea launched several cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Wednesday. This was just one of the nuclear-armed nation’s recent actions to inflame tensions.

In the new year, Pyongyang has increased its testing of armaments, demonstrating its “underwater nuclear weapon system” and its hypersonic ballistic missile powered by solid fuel.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated in a statement, “Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today.”

“South Korean and US intelligence authorities are closely analyzing the detailed specifications,” the statement said.

The present UN sanctions on Pyongyang do not prohibit the testing of cruise missiles, in contrast to their ballistic equivalents.

Cruise missiles are more difficult to identify and intercept than more advanced ballistic missiles since they are often jet-propelled and travel at a lower height.

The most recent launch coincides with a 10-day special forces infiltration practice that South Korea is carrying out off its east coast until Thursday “in light of serious security situations” with the North, the country’s navy said.

The commander of the exercise said in a statement, “We will succeed in our mission to penetrate deeply into the enemy’s territory and neutralize them completely under any circumstances.”

“PRINCIPAL ENEMY”
The two Koreas’ relationship has rapidly deteriorated in recent months as they have abandoned important agreements aimed at easing tension, increased border security, and started conducting live-fire exercises.

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, proclaimed the South to be his nation’s “principal enemy” last week, disbanded organizations tasked with outreach and reunification, and threatened to go to war for “even 0.001 mm” of territorial violation.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North Korean leader further said that Pyongyang would not recognize the Northern Limit Line, which serves as the two nations’ de facto sea boundary. He also called for constitutional amendments that would let the North to “occupy” Seoul in the event of a conflict.

Referencing his military’s “overwhelming response capabilities,” President Yoon Suk Yeol of Seoul warned his cabinet that if the nuclear-armed North carried out a provocation, South Korea would respond “multiple times stronger.”

During Pyongyang’s end-of-year policy talks, Kim vowed to launch a nuclear assault on the South and demanded that his nation’s armaments be increased in anticipation of a fight that he said may “break out at any time.”

A few days after Pyongyang conducted live-fire drills close to the country’s strained maritime border with South Korea, the North fired a solid-fuel hypersonic missile earlier this month. This sparked counter-exercises and evacuation orders for certain South Korean border islands.

Kim also succeeded in launching a spy satellite into orbit at the end of the previous year, after what Seoul claimed to be Russian assistance in return for weaponry deliveries for Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.