SEOUL
\nNorth Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul\u2019s military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31.
\nPyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an \u201cunderwater nuclear weapon system\u201d and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile.\u201dOur military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today,\u201d the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
\nUnlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN 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.
\nNorth Korea insisted Thursday the test the previous day was \u201ca process of constant updating of the weapon system and a regular and obligatory activity,\u201d the state news agency KCNA said. It did not specify how many missiles were fired.\u201dThe test-fire had no impact on the security of neighboring countries and has nothing to do with the regional situation,\u201d the agency said.
\nThe latest launch comes as South Korea is conducting a 10-day special forces infiltration drill off its east coast, \u201cin light of serious security situations\u201d with the North, that runs until Thursday, according to the South\u2019s navy. \u201cWe will achieve our mission to infiltrate deep into the enemy\u2019s territory and neutralize them completely under any circumstances,\u201d the drill\u2019s commander said in a statement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul\u2019s military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-383134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n