North launches 'multiple' cruise missiles: JCS

In a text to reporters, the JCS said it detected several cruise missiles being fired at 7 a.m., adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing the launches for additional details.

A man watches a television broadcast about the North's cruise missile launches on Wednesday morning at Seoul Station. [NEWS1]

North Korea fired “multiple” cruise missiles from its western coast on Wednesday morning, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

In a text to reporters, the JCS said the South Korean military “detected multiple cruise missiles launched by North Korea toward the Yellow Sea at around 7 a.m.,” adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing the launches for additional details.

The JCS said that the South Korean military is “strengthening its surveillance and readiness posture” and will “continue close cooperation with the United States” as it “keeps watch over the North.”

On Jan. 15, the North said it had conducted a launch of a solid-fuel intermediate ballistic missile mounted with a hypersonic warhead the previous day.

It also said on Friday that it had tested a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, which South Korean officials called “exaggerated.”

North Korea is not explicitly banned from developing cruise missiles under United Nations Security Council resolutions, unlike ballistic missiles.

Cruise missiles are usually powered by jet propulsion technology and fly at a lower speed and altitude than ballistic missiles. However, experts say they still pose a risk to South Korea and Japan because they are harder to detect by radar.

Advanced cruise missiles are also harder to intercept because they are often self-navigating and can fly on extremely low-altitude trajectories compared to ballistic missiles.

Cruise missiles can also be equipped with sensors to evade interception and active radar-homing seekers to guide them to their targets, greatly enhancing their precision.

In the past, South Korean military authorities appeared to be caught by surprise when the North’s state media reported that the regime had launched cruise missile launches, as was the case in September 2021.

In October 2022, the JCS told the media that the North had launched cruise missiles only after Pyongyang’s state media had issued a report.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un escalated his verbal offensive against the South and the United States and vowed to strengthen his regime’s nuclear capabilities during a visit to a munitions factory earlier this month.

South Korea, in particular, has emerged as a target for Kim’s ire, with the North Korean leader calling Seoul his regime’s “No. 1” and “principal” enemy on multiple occasions in reports issued by Pyongyang’s state media this past month.

In response, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to “punish” North Korea many times over should it “commit a provocation.”

Following the North’s ballistic missile launch, the South last week conducted a joint exercise with Japan and the United States in waters south of Jeju Island that involved nine vessels from the three countries’ navies, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

According to the JCS, the South Korean Navy’s special warfare unit is conducting a 10-day training exercise near the inter-Korean border on the eastern coast to strengthen operational readiness.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]