Second launch in a week sees North Korea fire more cruise missiles

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles off its east coast yesterday, its second such launch in less than a week, South Korea said.

The missiles were launched at about 8am local time and were being analysed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, without specifying how many missiles were fired or how far they travelled. “While strengthening surveillance and vigilance, our military is co-operating closely with the United States and monitoring additional signs and activities from North Korea,” it said.

The latest launches came days after North Korea fired what it called a new strategic cruise missile called Pulhwasal-3-31, suggesting it was nuclear capable.

North Korea is stepping up confrontation with the US and its allies, but officials in Washington and Seoul say they have seen no signs Pyongyang intends to take imminent military action. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months as leader Kim Jong-un continues to accelerate weapons development and issue threats of nuclear conflict with the US and its Asian allies.

This month, the UN condemned ballistic missile transfers from Russia to Pyongyang. North Korea has been under a UN arms embargo since it first tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.

“Each violation makes the world a much more dangerous place,” read a joint statement by permanent Security Council members Britain, France and the US, non-permanent members Malta, Slovenia and South Korea, plus Japan and Ukraine.

The US, South Korea and Japan have been expanding their military exercises in response to the increased launches, which Mr Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals.

North Korea’s cruise missiles supplement the country’s huge line-up of ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the US. South Korea’s representative to the UN, Hwang Joonkook, has said North Korean missiles have also been used by Russia in its war in Ukraine.