North launches third salvo of cruise missiles in a week

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles from its western coast on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, marking the third such salvo launched by the regime in a week.

A Pulhwasal-3-31 submarine-launched "strategic" cruise missile is fired from an undisclosed location along North Korea's eastern coast on Monday in this footage broadcast by the state-controlled Korean Central Television the following day. [YONHAP]

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles from its western coast on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, marking the third such salvo launched by the regime in a week.

In a text message sent to reporters, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch of several missiles at around 7 a.m. but did not offer an exact number.

The JCS also said that the South Korean military is “strengthening monitoring and vigilance” while “coordinating closely with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea’s provocations.”

The latest launches came only two days after the North fired several cruise missiles from its eastern coast.

The North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday that the regime test-fired at least two Pulhwasal-3-31 “strategic” cruise missiles from an offshore area near Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province.

State media referred to the Pulhwasal-3-31 missile by name for the first time on Jan. 25, a day after its first official test-firing.

According to the KCNA, the regime’s Missile General Bureau carried out that test as part of its “regular duty” to “constantly renew weapons systems.”

It remains unclear why the North has ramped up testing of its latest line of cruise missiles, but South Korean military officials have told reporters on condition of anonymity that the quick succession of launches is likely aimed at perfecting the new weapons system in a short span of time.

While the North’s state media claimed that submarine-launched Pulhwasal-3-31 missiles flew for around two hours before hitting their designated targets on Sunday, the South Korean military has suggested that the North may have exaggerated the missiles’ flight durations.

A JCS official who spoke to reporters on Tuesday said that the cruise missiles launched in the morning “flew longer than the ones on Jan. 28.”

The North conducted its first test of the Hwasal-1 cruise missile in September 2021.

It then fired several Hwasal-1 and -2 cruise missiles last year, claiming that the missiles could be armed with tactical nuclear weapons.

The Hwasal-1 is estimated to have a flight range of approximately 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), while the Hwasal-2 is believed to have a range of about 2,000 kilometers.

Powered by jet propulsion technology, cruise missiles usually fly at a lower speed and altitude than ballistic missiles.

While the North is formally barred from carrying out tests of ballistic missile technology under resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council, no such restrictions apply to its cruise missile program.

However, experts say the North’s cruise missiles still pose a risk to South Korea and Japan because they are harder to detect by radar.

At a press briefing held in Washington on Monday (local time), Pentagon deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh said that the U.S. commitment to South Korea and Japan remains “ironclad.”

Singh also told reporters that monitoring of the North’s weapons testing is ongoing but declined to provide further details gathered by intelligence.

“We’ve been very clear on the threat posed by the DPRK and their military programs, and our commitment to the Republic of Korea and Japan continues to be ironclad,” she said, referring to the North by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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