N. Korea fires more missiles in flurry of tests

North Korea fired another round of cruise missiles on Tuesday, Seoul’s military said, extending a recent flurry of tests of weapons that analysts warned could be destined for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

This month, Pyongyang has conducted tests of what it called an “underwater nuclear weapon system”, a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile, and a new generation of strategic cruise missiles.

Relations between the two Koreas have sharply deteriorated, with Kim Jong Un declaring Seoul his principal enemy, as he pulls closer to Moscow, including, Washington says, sending weapons for use in Ukraine.

South Korea’s military said it had detected the launch of several cruise missiles early Tuesday, adding that it was “conducting a detailed analysis” while strengthening surveillance in cooperation with ally the United States.

Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions on 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.

Despite rafts of UN sanctions, Seoul and Washington say Kim has been shipping weapons to Russia, possibly in exchange for Moscow’s technical assistance for Pyongyang’s budding spy satellite programme.

Kim made a rare overseas trip to Russia in September to meet President Vladimir Putin at a cosmodrome, with Putin now set to pay a visit to Pyongyang in return. The North successfully put its first spy satellite into orbit in November.

“It is believed that North Korea has commenced mass production of cruise missiles ordered by Russia,” Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.

“It looks like they are conducting ... experiments of these (ordered) missiles at sea, causing disruption to South Korea and the United States,” Anh said, adding that all guided missiles needed to undergo a minimum of five tests before being deployed on the battlefield.

Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said one cannot “rule out the possibility” that North Korea is conducting test-fires of cruise missiles intended for export to Russia.